THE  GIFT  OF 

FLORENCE  V.  V.  DICKEY 

TO  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

AT  LOS  ANGELES 


THE  DONALD  R.  DICKEY 

LIBRARY 

OF  VERTEBRATE  ZOOLOGY 


THROUGH  CENTRAL  AFRICA 


THROUGH 
CENTRAL  AFRICA 

FROM  COAST  TO  COAST 

BY 

JAMES  BARNES 


Illustrated  by  Photographs  by 
CHERRY  KEARTON 


NEW  YORK 

D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 

MCMXV 


in: 


FOREWORD 

^S  this  book  details  a  specific  journey  for  a  specific 
X\^  purpose,  the  plans  for  which  were  laid  lon^  in 
advance  and  carried  out  quite  to  the  letter,  barring 
some  disappointments  bound  to  occur  in  the  further- 
ance of  even  the  best  laid  plans,  it  is  well  to  begin 
at  the  beginning;  and,  as  it  is  also  the  personal  story 
of  the  experiences  and  work  of  two  men,  it  might 
be  well  to  term  them  in  advance,  the  Scribe  and  the 
Photographer. 

The  Scribe  had  it  in  his  mind  during  the  year 
1912,  that  as  soon  as  he  could  arrange  his  private 
affairs,  and  get  them  into  condition  for  a  long  absence, 
he  would  journey  to  East  Africa  in  quest  of  game 
pictures,  and  being  very  unskilful  with  the  camera — 
having  developed  little  of  the  patience  and  none  of 
the  technique — he  was  most  anxious  to  secure  a  com- 
panion who  would   supply  his  own   defects. 

In  the  fall  of  1912  the  New  York  papers  announced 
that  Mr.  Cherry  Kearton,  whose  work  in  the  field  of 
natural  history  photography  is  known  in  America  as 
well  as  in   England,  was  in  the   city. 

"  If  I  could  only  get  hold  of  Cherry  Kearton," 
said  the  Scribe  to  himself,  "I  would  have  the  man  I 
would   like  to  go  with." 

And    shortly    afterwards,    exactly    like    a   happening 


49G515 


VI 


FOREWORD 


in   a  story  book,  the  Scribe  was  seated  in  a  restaurant 
lunching,  when   he  was  approached   by  a   friend. 

"Going  abroad  this  winter?"  asked  the  friend 
casually. 

"Farther  than  that,"  the  Scribe  replied.  "If  1 
can  arrange  it,   I  am  going  to  Africa." 

"Just  met  a  chap  who  knows  all  about  it,"  observed 
the  friend,  turning,   "his  name  is  Kearton." 

"You   know  him!     How  can  I  get  hold  of  him?" 

The  friend  pointed,  "There  he  is  at  that  table  in 
the   corner.     Come   over   and   I'll   introduce   you." 

So  the  Scribe  and  the  Photographer  spent  that 
afternoon  together,  and  the  whole  of  the  next  day, 
up  in  the  Bronx,  rambling  through  the  botanical 
gardens  and  zoological  park,  and  before  they  parted 
they  sealed  with  a  handshake  the  partnership  that 
resulted  in  a  year's  stay  in  East  Africa,  Uganda  and 
the  Congo,  and  the  cinema  journey  from  coast  to 
coast. 

There  were  many  things  to  be  considered  in  the 
preliminaries  and  arrangements  made  before  departure, 
and  one  was  that  the  pictorial  results  they  would  try 
to  obtain  would  be  different  from  the  exhibition  films 
or  the  illustrations  for  books  that  had  heretofore 
appeared. 

Imprimis,  it  was  resolved  that  there  would  be  no 
wounded,  trapped  or  harassed  animals  taken,  that 
slaughter  would  be  conspicuous  by  its  absence,  and 
that,  so  far  as  possible,  animals  would  be  seen  moving 
undisturbed  in  their  natural  habitat,  and  that  the  native 
life  would  be   represented  unstaged  and  truthfully. 


FOREWORD  vii 

So  if  the  reader  expects  detailed  accounts  of  big 
game  bags,  measurements  of  supposedly  record  beads, 
and  accounts  of  terrific  wounds  by  soft-nosed  or  solid 
bullets,  be  bad  better  put  tbis  volume  down  on  the 
bookseller's  counter,  or  if  he  has  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  buy  it,  place  it  back  on   bis  shelves  unread. 

And  there  was  another  object  also. 

Attached  to  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History  in  New  York  City  is  a  large  lecture  ball, 
where  free  entertainments  are  given  to  the  public,  and, 
lately  with  great  success,  moving  picture  films  of 
animals  in  their  natural  surroundings  have  l:>een  shown 
there.  Now,  it  is  the  idea  of  the  Scribe  and  the 
Photographer  to  present  to  the  great  natural  history 
museums  of  the  world  a  duplicate  set  of  the  pictures 
obtained  on  tbis  expedition,  to  form,  as  it  were,  the 
nucleus  of  a  "film  library"  for  free  exhibition  only,  in 
order  that  the  public  may  see  at  least  some  of  the 
mounted  specimens  staring  out  of  their  glass  cases 
moving  naturally  in  the  freedom  of  prairie,  veldt  or 
forest,  for  before  long  some  of  them  may  be  as  ex- 
tinct as  the  dodo. 

A  glance  at  the  map  that  accompanies  this  volume 
will  show  the  extent  of  the  photographic  wanderings. 
In  April,  1913,  the  expedition  started  from  London, 
and  as  the  preparations  had  all  been  made  long  in 
advance  for  the  first  safari,  they  waited  only  two 
days  at  Nairobi,  and  the  month  of  May  found  them 
skirting  the  Abadares  in  British  East  Africa,  bound 
for  the  wide  stretches  of  sand  and  thornbush  north  of 
the  Uashu  Neru.     It  was  at  the  water-holes  up  towards 


Vlll 


FOREWORD 


the  Abyssinian  border,  where  the  only  inhabitants  are 
nomadic  tribes  of  RandiU,  Samburra  and  Boran,  that 
many  of  the  pictures  were  secured.  The  story  of 
taking  them  mals.es  up  the  first  part  of  the  book;  but 
it  had  always  been  the  intention  to  go  on  to  the  west- 
ward, through  Uganda,  and  thence  down  the  Ituri 
and  the  Aruwimi  to  the  Congo,  following,  practically, 
at  least  from  the  Rewenzori  Mountains,  Stanley's  trail 
on  the  Emin  Pasha  relief  expedition  of  1887.  There 
svas  a  faint  hope  that  it  might  be  possible  to  secure 
photographs  or  perhaps  moving  pictures  of  some  of 
the  rarer  animals,  only  a  few  of  which  are  represented 
in  the  collection  of  mounted  specimens  in  the  larger 
museums. 

It  may  not  be  the  best  policy  to  preface  a  book 
with  an  apology,  and  yet  it  is  rather  necessary  in 
this  case,  in  order  to  explain  the  lack  of  animal 
pictures  in  the  later  chapters  of  the  book. 

No  sooner  had  we  left  the  wide-spreading  Irumu 
plains,  and  entered  the  depths  of  the  forest,  when  diffi- 
culties began.  In  the  deep  shade  of  the  towering  trees 
and  dense  undergrowth  the  moving  picture  cameras 
were  at  an  utter  discount.  The  six-  or  eight-inch  lenses 
were  absolutely  useless.  It  required  the  exposure  of 
from  one-fifth  of  a  second  to  a  full  second's  time  to 
obtain  any  result  at  noonday.  In  the  morning  and 
evening  it  was  a  perpetual  gloom.  The  only  chances 
for  photographic  work  were  along  the  rivers,  in  the 
few  open  glades  that  were  encountered,  and  in  the 
cleared  spaces  and  the  plantations  near  the  native  vil- 
lages.    Try  our  best  we  did.     For  many  days  we  were 


FOREWORD  ix 

in  the  country  wliere  the  okapi  had  been  netted  or  killed 
by  the  wambuti  or  pygmies  but  a  short  time  before. 
We  saw  tlie  footprints  of  this  mysterious  and  lately 
discovered  animal,  and  that  is  all.  We  had  the  jiygmies 
around  us  and  tried  to  make  moving  pictures  with 
a  wide-open  shutter  and  a  slow  turning  of  the  handle, 
but  only  secured  results  when  the  subjects  could  be 
enticed  out  into  the  open.  In  the  Scribe's  diary  will  be 
found  this  despairing  sentence:  "The  forest  is  im- 
possible as  a  field  for  moving  photography." 

We  were  close  to  elephants  more  than  once ;  in 
one  instance  one  of  the  partners  found  himself  in 
the  middle  of  a  herd  of  at  least  a  hundred.  They 
were  all  around.  One  could  hear  the  flappings  of 
the  great  ears,  and  that  strange  stomachic  rumbling 
that  can  only  be  heard  when  elephants  are  near  to, 
yet  not  a  photograph  could  have  been  taken,  for  the 
great  beasts  were  as  invisible  as  if  they  were  miles 
away.  It  was  disappointing  and  not  wholly  agreeable, 
in  fact,  the  time  spent  in  getting  out  of  such  rather 
uncomfortable  positions  was  hardly  worth  mentioning. 

The  Scribe  on  two  occasions  was  compelled  to 
shoot  in  self-defence,  and  each  time  managed  to  put 
a  bullet  in  one  of  the  few  vital  spots  that  would  stop 
an  oncoming  and  hostile  beast — the  brain.  On  another 
occasion,  in  the  deep  forest,  a  beautiful  leopard  crossed 
the  path  in  one  swift  bound,  leaving  the  fleeting  im- 
pression on  the  retina  of  tawny  spots  and  straignt-held 
tail.  What  a  picture  would  he  have  made  if  the 
camera  had  been  gifted  with  X-ray  quality  to  pene- 
trate the  curtains  of  thick  foliage. 


X  FOREWORD 

So  the  trip  down  to  the  Congo  will  record  mostly 
canoe  life,  river  and  village  scenes,  with  occasional 
glimpses  of  the  forest  where  the  percolating  light  was 
sufficient  to  make  record  possible  by  means  of  time 
exposure.  Anyone  who  has  read  Stanley's  book  "In 
Darkest  Africa"  might  follow  with  interest  this  perhaps 
unexciting  narrative,  for  the  expedition  met  natives  who 
remembered  him,  old  men  now,  long  past  the  age 
when  most  savages  have  gone  the  way  of  African  flesh, 
which  mayhap  is  a  little  different  from  other  flesh,  in 
that  very  little  is  wasted.  The  records  of  impressions 
of  this  part  of  the  journey  will  be  found  in  the 
book.  There  was  very  little  time  for  close  investi- 
gations or  analyses  of  native  customs,  for,  lurking 
behind  everything  was  the  fear  that  the  dampness, 
the  intense  heat  and  humidity  might  already  be  act- 
ing disastrously  on  the  films  already  taken,  and  that 
it  was  necessary  to  carry  along.  There  were  troubles 
with  deserting  porters,  rows  with  rebellious  and  trucu- 
lent paddlers  during  the  long  river  journey,  and 
nights  spent  at  villages  where  death  and  disease  were 
rampant. 

When  at  last  the  Scribe  and  the  Photographer 
arrived  at  the  head  of  steamer  navigation,  after  paddling 
down  the  river  in  hollowed-out  log  canoes  through  half 
the  night  to  Basoko,  they  caught  the  Congo  river  boat 
with  only  fourteen  minutes  to  spare. 

Now,  looking  back  over  it  all,  both  the  Scribe  and 
the  Photographer  are  very  glad  they  went,  but  there 
are  certain  portions  of  the  journey  that  they  would 
not  care  to  do  again. 


CONTENTS 


Foreword 


PAce 

V 


CHAPTER 

1.  On  the  Trail  from  Nairobi  . 

2.  Along    the     Uashu     Neku     from     Rumuruti     to 

Archer's  Post  ..... 

3.  Picture  Land — The  Little  Back  Room    in   Noah' 

Ark 

4.  The  March  Past  Kenia  .... 

5.  The  Well-known  Hunting  grounds 

6.  From  B.  E.  A.  to  Uganda  :  The  Departure  . 

7.  In  the  Kabaka's  Country 

8.  Into  the  Congo  Belge  . 

9.  The  Tall  Grass  Country 

10.  Irumu     ..... 

11.  Entering  the  Forest 

12.  Our  Expedition  South  of  Loya   into  the   Pygmv 

Country  .... 

13.  Alone  in  the  Cannibal  Country 

14.  On  Stanley's  Trail 

15.  Penghe  to  Avakubi 


13 

24 

50 
56 

72 

83 
103 

115 
125 
133 

144 

154 
16S 
179 


Xll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

i6.  Down  the  River    . 

17.  The  Talking  Drums 

18.  The  Congo  at  Last 
ig.  The  Lower  Reaches 

20.  The  Last  Adventure 

21.  Some  Notes  and  Figures 

22.  Retrospect     - 


PAGE 
191 

200 

218 

229 
238 

251 
260 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Sunset  on  the  Arlwimi.     Colour 


Froii/ispit'cc 


!■  AUNG 
I'AI.K 


Sketch  Map  Showing  Route  of  the  Expeijition  across  Afric 
The  Start  from  Town   . 
Down  the  Trail     .... 
Fording  a  Shallow  Stream    . 
What  Two  Days'  Rain  Will  Do 
Through  the  Hunter's  Paradise 
Skirting  Lake  Olgolositt     . 
Heavy  Going   ..... 
The  Camp  in  the  Park-like  Countr\ 
Grevy  Zebra  Mare  and  Foal 
On  the  Edge  of  the  Plateau 
The  Famous  Neumann's  Camp     . 
The  Chanler  Falls 
Rapids  of  the  Uashu  Neru 
A  Close  View  of  the  Rapids 
The  Base  Camp 

Watching  Game  from  the  Hili.-side 
The  Little  Back  Room  in  Noah's  Ark 
The  Work  of  One  Elephant 
Grevy  Zebras  and  Giraffes 
Oryx  and  Vultures  at  the  Water-hoij'S 

xiii 


8 

H) 
ID 
14 
14 
14 
16 
16 
20 
20 
20 
28 
28 
28 
28 

3<^ 
32 


xlv  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 

pac;e 


Greetings  from  Wonderobo 42 

Ellen,  the  Stray  Camel 42 

A  Drama  of  Greed 46 

The  Juggernaut  Rock 52 

Thomson's  Gazelle 60 

On  the  Trek  with  Oxen 60 

A  Halt  in  Scanty  Shade       .         .         .         .         .         .         .64 

Coke's  Hartebeeste  Drinking 64 

Rhinoceros  Photographed  at  Close  Quarters    ...  70 

Scavengers  of  the  Veldt       .......  72 

The  Scribe  and  Bakale          .......  78 

Inspection  of  the  s:s.  "Clement  Hill"     ....  80 

The     Kabaka's    Courtyard:     Entrance    to     the     Royal 

Enclosure         .........  86 

The  Kabaka's  Drums 86 

Stringed  Instruments  and  Chorus      .....  86 

The  Champion  Wrestler  of  Uganda           .         .         ...  88 

A  Buganda  Warrior  in  his  War  Paint        ....  92 

A  Bridge  on  the  Highway 96 

In  Sight  of  the  Foothills:  A  Halt  near  Toro   ...  96 

Lake  Llonga-Llonga 98 

On  Lake  Llonga-Llonga 98 

The  Mirrored  Shores  of  Lake  Llonga-Llonga  ...  98 

The  Deserted  Country          .......  102 

Crossing  the  Foothills  of  the  Rewenzori          .         .         .  102 

A  Village  Built  in  Half  an  Hour 102 

After  the  Rain:  The  Watched  Pot  that  would  Never 

Boil 102 

A  FoRTY-NiNER  ON  Rewexzori  :  The  Scribe  and  Charles 

Malloy 102 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


XV 


I'  \\ 


Ml' 


Pointing  the  Way  to  thi-  Skmi.iki 

Crossing  THE  Semliki:  View  from  tih.  Uii.cian  S 

The  Haunt  of  tiii:  Crocodile 

A  Goliath  among  "  Crocs  "   . 

The  Well-cleared  Avenue  Approach  to  a  \'ii.i 

Serving  the  Scanty  Rations 

Market  Place,  Bog  a 

Interview  with  Chii;f  or  thi:   Hii.i.-k 

Presents  from  the  Chii;i's  Ciari)i:n 

After  the  Storm     .         .         .         . 

What  the  Hurricane  Left  of  Our  C 

Bah  em  A  Belles        .... 

The  Chief's  Hut  in  a  Bahema  N'illage 

A  Walese  Village  in  the  Woods 

Babira  Women  in  the  Market  Place 

Black  Troops  at  Irumu 

An   Irumu  Woman,  showing  Cicatrisation 

A  Government  Rest-house    . 

The  "  Entente  Cordiale  "     . 

Nearing  Kifiku       .... 

An  Ivory  Caravan  on  the  March 

Ivory  Trader's  Yard 

Entering  a  Village:  The  Dwarf  Leads  the  W 

Women  Running  Out  to  Meet  the  Column 

The  Loya  River  near  Mamakupi 

Crossing  the  Loya  Rivi;r 

Our  Camp  at  Mamakupi 

Huts  of  the  Forest  Peoi>le 

Some  Little  Cannibals 

The  Belle  of  the  \'illage 


KAi-iNi; 

PAGE 

104 
104 
104 
108 

I  ]2 
116 
116 
116 
120 
120 
126 
126 
128 
128 
K\2 

136 
138 
138 
142 
142 

144 
144 
148 
148 
148 


XVI 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


"  He  resembled  an  organ-grinder's  monkey  " 
A  Young  M'buti  Hunter      .... 

A  Walese  M'buti  Chief        .... 

A  Light  Lunch:  An  Elephant's  Forefoot 

A  Chief  on  the  Loya  River 

On  the  Edge  of  the  Village 

A  Family  Group  in  a  Forest  Village 

A  Scowling  Welcome  from  a  Lady  Cannibal 

The  Two  Head  Trackers      .         .         . 

Mentoni's  Brother  Re-tailing  the  Big  Elephant 

Cutting  up  an  Elephant  near  Mentoni's  Village   . 

The  Scribe  with  Trophies  of  the  Big  Tusker   . 

A  MoNGWANA  Mohammedan  Teacher  and  his  Wives 

Ex-Slave  Raiders     ..... 

MoNGWANA  Women  Singing  . 

A  MoNGWANA  Dance      .... 

Upper  Waters  of  the  Ituri  near  Kifiku 
A  Path  through  the  Second  Growth 
A  Tree  that  Lives  on  the  Surface  of  the  Ground   . 
The   Photographer   Catching   Butterflies   in    a  Forest 
Glade        ...... 

The  Armadillo        .         .         .         .         . 

A  Horned  Viper      ..... 

A  Trunk  no  Native  will  Climb   . 

A  Typical  Ant's  Nest  of  Central  Africa 

An  Edible  Lizard 

Pounding  Rice 

The  House  of  a  Spirit  Chief 

A  Clay  Totem  at  the  Hut  of  a  Dead  Chief 

Porters  Waiting  to  Leave  Penghe 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


xvu 


The  Porter  who  Became  a  Headman 

The  Boy  who  was  Nearly  Killed  and  Eaten  h\  Caw 

The  Hiim'o  that  Nearly  Caused  a  Rior 

Cutting  up  the  Hippo 

The  Landing  Place 

A  Ferry  Across  the  Ituri  River,  near  A\akliu 

The  Departure  from  Avakubi 

River  Scene  below  Avakubi 

A  Halt  for  Luncheon  .... 

Canoemen  of  the  Aruwtmi  .... 

Hauling  a  Canoe  against  the  Current 

Setting  Fish  Traps 

The  Curious  Crowd 

Women  Carrying  the  Loads 
Shooting  the  Rapids  at  Bassobangi 
A  River  Family  on  the  Move 

Taking  a  Sun  Bath 

Men  and  Women  Porters  Waiting  for  their  L( 
Wife  of  the  Chief  at  Mokangula 

Unconscious  Poses 

Chief  with  Parrot  Feather  Headdress  and  O 

Bandolier  ...... 

A  River  Man  and  a  Forest  Hunter 

Bartering  for  a  Native  Sword 

The  Village  Flour  Mill      .... 

As  it  Was  in  the  Beginning:  A  Primitive  Ri\f 
The   African    "Wireless":    A    Village    Stri;i-t 

Drummer  ....... 

Panga  Falls  on  the  Aruwimi 

On  Stanley's  Island,  below  the  Falls 


Skix 


R  \'ii.i.\(;i 

snow IXG 


FAIING 
l'A<.E 

182 

182 

184 

184 

188 

90 

90 

[92 
192 

192 

'J4 
'M 

104 
04 
98 

198 
')8 

:98 


i<,8 
198 
[98 
[98 
200 

200 
204 
204 


XVIU 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


An  Evening  Sky 

Lightning  at  Mupele 

The  Goats'  Highway  into  the  Forest 
Issuing  Rice  to  a  Sleeping  Sickness  Victim 
Banalia  Women  Offering  Wood  for  Purchase 
Near    Yambuya,    where     Stanley's     Reargltaru    al 

Starved      

Old  Lupo,  Stanley's  Guide  on  the  Aruwimi 
Watching  the  Canoes  come  in      .         .         . 
Starvation  Camp     .         .         .         .         .         . 

A  Bamboo  Pipe 

Full  Speed  Ahead  ...... 

Placid  Reflections 

The  Fortified  Post  of  Basoko 

At  Basoko  Gate:  The  End  of  the  Canoe  Journey 

Basoko  Types,  showing  Cicatrisation   . 

Barumba,  where  we  Joined  the  Steamer     . 

A  Congo  Mission  Station        .... 

The  Steamer  Tied  Up  for  the  Night 
The  Forward  Deck         ..... 

Women  at  a  Landing  Place 

The  Docks  at  Matadi   ..... 

An  Avenue  Planted  by  Stanley  . 

The  Ladies  who  Would  Dress  for  Their  Portr 

Glave's  Lonely  Grave   ..... 

On  Stanley's  Route  through  the  Jungle 
Oryx  and  Impalla  Searching  for  Water    . 
A  Herd  of  Oryx  with  some  Record  Heads   . 
Common  Zebra         ...... 

Oryx  and  Zebra  Stampeding 


\ITS 


MOST 


PAGE 

208 
210 
210 

210 
210 
214 
214 
214 
216 
216 
216 
216 
218 

222 
222 
222 
222 
228 
236 
238 
238 
242 
258 
264 
264 
266 
266 


THROUGH  CENTRAL  AFRICA 


3U  20  /    lu         <-<~l'TJ 

/       /     //      V 

A    T  L  A   X  t/i  ,C  /V 


10  20 


M  LoDJiituJ.;  I't) W'e-t 


SKETCH    MAP   SHOWING   ROUTE    OF   THE    EXPEDITION    ACROSS    AFRICA 


Through  Central  Africa 

FROM  COAST  TO  COAST 

CHAPTER  I 

ON    THE    TRAIL    FROM     NAIROBI 

SOME  old  Latin  once  recorded  that  "All  things 
new  come  from  Africa,"  but  there  are  certainly 
some  things  that  have  come  from  there  (indirectly 
perhaps)  that  are  not  new,  and  these  are  books.  It 
seems  to  me  that  everyone  who  has  ever  gone  there, 
no  matter  his  excuse,  incentive,  or  provocation,  has 
perpetrated  at  least  one  volume,  and  some  have  had 
the  temerity  to  repeat  the  dreadful  experiment. 

Almost  all  the  books  that  I  have  read  contain  photo- 
graphs and  descriptions  of  Nairobi,  that  busy  little  centre 
of  about  eleven  hundred  whites,  and  four  times  that 
quantity  of  blacks,  and  where  the  Indian  Fundi  and 
bazaar  merchant  have  the  monopoly  of  the  contractor's 
calling  and  trade.  Suffice  it,  therefore,  that,  having 
reached  this  usual  starting-point  in  the  usual  way  by 
train  from  Mombasa,  all  of  our  thoughts  were  concen- 
trated upon  getting  off  on  Safari*  and  away  from 
the  haunts  of  men.     Nairobi  irked   us. 

*  Safari  =  Caravan  :    route  of  march. 


2  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

It  was,  luckily,  the  off  season,  and  the  visiting  "big 
game  hunters" — mostly  armed  tourists  out  to  kill — were 
not  much  in  evidence.  There  was  a  land  boom  on; 
everyone  was  anxious  to  sell  a  farm  or  buy  one — the 
latter  class  being  the  great  minority.  Perhaps  it  was 
for  this  reason  that  porters  were  easy  to  obtain.  We 
were  fortunate  also  to  secure,  for  our  first  trip,  the 
services  ot  Mr.  S.  H.  Lydford,  a  young  white  hunter 
who  possessed  both  knowledge  and  interest  in  photo- 
graphic work,  and  who  knew  well  the  country  into 
which  it  was  our  intention  to  penetrate — the  little- 
known  and  waterless  tracts  north  of  the  Uashu  Neru 
up  toward  the  Abyssinian  border. 

It  was  an  old  story  to  Kearton.  It  was  his  third 
visit  to  British  East  Africa.  He  had  been  through  it 
all  before.  From  the  train  window  he  had  pointed 
out  places  where,  on  a  previous  visit,  he  had  done 
photographic  work,  but  it  was  all  new  to  the  Scribe, 
although  he  was  familiar  with  the  suhiect  at  second 
hand,  having  read  so  many  of  his  friends'  effusions 
and  having  listened  to  so  many  stories  told  at  "Camp 
Fire"  dinners  at  luxurious  metropolitan  hotels.  But 
despite  this  mental  preparation,  and  the  recollection 
of  much  carefully  garnered  advice,  there  was  a  feel- 
ing of  keen  excitement  and  pleasure  that  came  to  both 
Kearton  and  myself,  as,  clad  in  our  very  new  khaki 
outfits,  we  looked  down  the  lines  of  black  nondescripts 
who  were  to  be  our  companions  for  nearly  three 
months.  When  the  column  started,  to  the  tooting 
of  antelope  horns  and    much   shouting,    out    into    the 


ON   THE   TRAIL   FROM    NAIROBI  3 

Nairobi  streets  from  the  yard  of  the  tradiiij^  company 
that  had  charge  of  equipiiing  our  expedition,  1  con- 
fess that  it  was  with  a  thrill  of  deliglit  that  I  slapped 
Kearton  on  the  shoulder  and  said:  "We're  oii  at 
last!" 

Our  destination  was  the  railway  station,  hut  word 
had  come  in,  that  owing  to  the  heavy  rains  the  trails 
to  Fort  Hall  and  northward  around  Mount  Kenia 
were  almost  impassable,  so  under  advice  we  decided 
to  leave  the  railway  and.  take  to  the  "leather  express" 
at  Gil-Gil,  some  six  or  seven  hours'  distance  up  the 
road. 

Nothing  delights  an  American  negro  so  much  as 
a  railway  journey — (whoever  saw  an  unhappy  porter 
on  a  Pullman  train?) — and  I  found  that  this  held  true 
with  his  untutored  and  mostly  unclad  brother  on  his 
native  stamping  ground ;  perhaps  it  is  the  fact  that 
he  is  moving  without  exertion  that  gives  the  negro  a 
sort  of  exultation,  but,  whatever  the  reason,  no  jollier  or 
more  contented  lot  of  human  beings  have  I  ever  seen 
than  these  Kikuyus,  Wakambas,  Kavirondos,  and  black 
tramps  generally,  who  were  crowded  like  herrings  into 
two  open  cars  at  the  end  of  the  train.  Like  the  Hours 
described  by  the  bored  poet,  they  were  forced  to  "loll 
in  each  other's  laps"  to  the  journey's  end.  Never- 
theless, they  chatted,  sang,  and  in  general  wore  the 
aspect  of  a  black  boys'  boarding  school  going  home 
for  the  holidays.  Poor  thoughtless  devils,  there  was 
hardship  enough  ahead  for  some  of  them. 

To    a    certain    degree,   the   safari    porter   is    a   ward 


4  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

of  the  local  authorities  at  the  point  from  which  he 
starts,  and  there  all  responsihility  ends.  According  to 
law,  each  one  has  to  be  provided  with  a  black  sleeved 
jersey,  a  blanket,  and  a  tin  water-bottle.  Now,  how 
some  of  those  ex-warriors  had  found  time  to  sell 
their  new  jerseys  and  new  blankets  and  make  appear- 
ance at  the  train  in  ragged  substitutes  was  perplexing, 
and  the  number  of  second-hand  canteens  and  water- 
bottles  that  appeared  was  beyond  counting.  The 
blankets,  that  I  think  are  made  mostly  of  cotton 
waste  and  paper  stock,  could  not  have  brought  much 
in  the  way  of  trade  or  ready-money,  and  as  for  the 
tin  water-bottles,  those  that  did  not  leak  at  the  end 
of  the  first  week's  marching  were  discarded  as  use- 
less incumbrances,  yet  what  a  row  there  would  have 
been  if  every  man  had  not  received  his  own  at  the 
point  of  starting !  Besides  the  porters,  we  were 
provided  with  a  head  man  or  n'mpara,  of  whom  I 
will  write  hereafter,  a  cook,  and  a  private  servant 
apiece. 

The  cook  had  come  with  a  written  recommenda- 
tion from  a  former  employer.  We  had  picked  him 
out  because  I  insisted  that  he  had  an  honest  face, 
despite  the  fact  that  his  worn  and  dog-eared  letter 
was  dated  some  two  years  back ;  he  sorrowfully 
averred  that  he  had  lost  the  others.  However,  at 
the  hotel  where  we  stayed  for  two  days,  I  ran 
across  the  man  who  had  most  recently  employed 
him,  and  whose  name  he  had  proudly  mentioned. 

"  Yes,"     remarked      the     gentleman     thoughtfully, 


ON   THE   TRAIL   FROM    NAIROBI         5 

"Amassi  is  a  good  cook,  perhaj^s  the  best  in  East 
Africa,  but  he  is  also  one  of  the  worst  thieves  and 
most  arrant  scoundrels  I  have  ever  met.  He  is  a 
gambler  and  a  general  waster,  but  if  you  deal  every- 
thing out  to  him  carefully,  and  watch  him  like  a 
suspicious  constable,  and  beat  him  about  once  a  week, 
he  will  serve  you  very  well.  He  professes  to  be  a 
Christian,"  my  new  found  friend  smiled  slightly; 
*'  but  the  only  Christian  principle  that  he  has  im- 
bibed is  never  to  let  his  left  hand  know  what  his  right 
hand  is  doing." 

Be  it  therefore  recorded,  after  this  warning,  witliout 
beating,  we  got  on  with  Amassi  fairly  well.  Kearton's 
personal  boy,  Abadie,  was  the  Uriah  Heep  of  all 
personal  boys.  He  was  that  humble  that  he  was 
afraid  to  assert  himself  by  touching  anything  of  his 
master's  until  ordered  to  do  so,  and  so  shy  and 
retiring  was  he,  that  I  am  firmly  convinced  he 
blushed  when  spoken  to,  although  it  could  not  be 
detected.  In  my  personal  boy,  Juma,  I  thought  I 
had  discovered  a  jewel.  He  was  a  Mohammedan 
with  rather  a  shifty  eye,  but  he  certainly  ditl  know 
his  business.  He  could  wait  on  the  table,  clean  and 
press  clothes  like  a  duke's  valet.  He  could  also 
mend  things  very  well,  after  you  had  given  them  to 
him,  and  as  for  packing  things  breakable  and  un- 
breakable, he  could  have  got  a  job  in  a  glass 
warehouse.  At  making  beds  he  proved  to  be  an 
adept.  In  fact,  he  began  after  the  fashion  of  the 
traditional    new    broom,   and  stayed   so   until   the  latter 


6  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

end  of  the  journey,  when  he  departed  with  an  over- 
coat, a  suit  of  clothes  and  two  pairs  of  hoots,  and 
failed  to  come  hack  for  a  letter  of  recommendation. 
Oh!  those  letters!  Those  precious  barruas,  for 
which  there  must  be  a  native  clearing-house  among 
personal  hoys,  with  fixed  prices  and  an  adept  trans- 
lator, w^ho,  however,  occasionally  lets  some  of  the 
slyly  worded  ones  get  past.  Lydford,  the  most 
experienced  of  the  three  of  us,  had  drawn  the 
worst  card  in  the  deck.  I  have  forgotten  the  indi- 
vidual's name,  but  he  was  consigned  to  limbo 
after  a  few  weeks'  trial,  and  the  work  that  he  was 
supposed  to  do  was  practically  divided  between  the 
retiring  Abadie  and  the  omniscient  Juma.  I  have 
mentioned  casually  the  head  man,  the  ii^mpara,  and 
I  here  record  that  if  ever  I  go  to  Africa  again  I 
will  do  much  searching  until  I  find  him.  He  was 
tall,  of  Herculean  build,  with  a  voice  like  that  of 
a  first  mate  on  a  river  steamboat,  and  he  could 
have  taken  the  two  biggest  porters  and  dangled 
them  like  two-pound  dumb-bells.  He  mentioned 
his  name  several  times  to  me  in  a  very  husky  voice, 
but  I  always  failed  to  catch  it,  otherwise  I  would 
be  glad  to  recommend  him  to  anyone  in  need  of 
such  services  as  he  could  render. 

While  I  am  on  this  digression,  I  must  mention  a 
little  incident  which  rather  disproves  the  theory  held 
by  some  irascible  travellers  that  the  African  black  is 
neither  loyal  nor  faithful.  Kearton  had  often  told  me 
stories  of  his  former  trips,   and  how  he   wished   that  he 


ON   THE   TRAIL    FROM    NAIROBI  7 

could  get  hold  of  his  old  camera  boy  who  had  accom- 
panied him  on  his  lion-spearing  trip,  and  when  he 
was  taking  the  moving  pictures  for  the  Huifalo  Jones 
expedition,  a  Kikuyu  named  Killenjui,  hut  how  to 
find  him  Kearton  did  not  know.  The  very  morning 
of  our  start,  however,  as  he  was  walking  down  Cjovern- 
ment  Road,  a  little  half-naked  individual  carrying  the 
old  haft  of  a  spear  smilingly  saluted  him.  It  was 
Killenjui  himself!  When  he  heard  that  his  old  hwana 
was  going  ofT  immediately  on  safari,  there  was  no 
hesitation — he  dropped  all  and  followed  him.  Killenjui, 
it  seemed,  was  prosperous  and  owned  cattle  and  sheep 
and  goats,  and  possessed  a  family;  but  nothing  counted  ! 
Sending  out  w^ord  to  his  kraal,  which  was  a  day's 
journey  from  the  tow^n,  that  he  would  be  gone  for 
some  time,  he  threw  in  his  lot  with  us;  and  a  more 
faithful,  trustworthy,  brave  little  chap  never  trod  the 
long  stretches  of  the  game  trails. 

But  to  return  to  the  train  puffing  up  the  heavy 
grades  to  the  westward.  We  had  purchased  three 
mules,  and  they  were  in  a  horse-box  ahead  of  the 
crowded  trucks  containing  the  tightly-wedged-in  blacks. 
The  train  was  late,  and  it  was  dark  when  we  drew 
into  Gil-Gil  station,  which  we  found  consisted  of  two 
tin  shanties  presided  over  by  a  turbaned  Indian,  his 
tiny  wife,  and  three  roly-poly  children.  Nairobi  itseit 
lies  at  an  altitude  of  some  6,000  feet,  and  during  the 
afternoon's  journey  we  climbed  over  two  thousand 
more.  It  was  cold.  The  shelter  offered  by  the  tin 
rest-house  was    seductive,   and    I    thought    almost    with 


8  THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

pity  of  the  unclad  porters  in  their  little  cotton  tents 
that  they  had  pitched  beside  the  track.  A  stroll  over 
in  their  direction  after  we  had  made  some  shift  at  a 
supper  convinced  me  that  my  sympathy  was  wasted. 
Great  fires  were  roaring,  and  laughter  and  song,  joke 
and  story  seemed  to  be  going  the  round.  Commend 
me  for  an  example  of  contentment  with  mundane  exis- 
tence to  the  African  porter  with  a  full  stomach;  he  is 
the  one  man  who  regrets  no  past,  fears  no  future, 
and  completely  enjoys  what  the  gods  provide  for  the 
present  fleeting  moment,  with  the  proviso  that  it  is 
food  and   fire. 

We  were  up  betimes  in  the  morning  ;  a  glorious 
crisp  day  was  coming  on.  I  ached  to  try  my  new 
boots  (and  I  actually  did  before  the  day  went  out),  so 
I  disdained  the  services  of  my  mule  and  started  along 
the  well-defined  trail  to  the  north,  at  the  head  of  the 
shouting  and  singing  line  of  porters.  By  eleven  o'clock 
it  had  grown  hot,  and  I  had  become  convinced  that 
I  would  boast  no  longer  of  the  perfections  of  my 
London  footgear,  I  decided  not  to  waste  that  mule, 
and  waited  for  him.  It  was  just  after  I  had  mounted 
that  we  got  our  first  sight  of  game  close  to.  A  half 
dozen  kongoni  looked  over  the  brow  of  a  hill  at  us. 
The  two  dogs  that  we  had  commandeered  at  Nairobi 
started  full  tilt,  as  if  let  go  from  a  leash.  Following 
to  the  brow  of  a  hill,  I  turned  back  disgusted.  There 
was  a  tin  farmhouse  with  a  wooden  verandah  not  half 
a  mile  away !  It  was  somewhat  of  a  shock.  The 
kongoni  were  private  property.     For  the  next  few  hours, 


THE    START    FROM    TOWN 


*   >• 


DOWN     Tin-.    TKAIL 


■ 

f^u 

K 

.•  •..*?F^    N.1*- 

**»  ■  '■'  -'■  ■  ■   1 

FORDING    A    SHALLOW    STREAM 


WHAT    TW^O    DAYS'    RAIN    WILL    DO 


ON   THE   TRAIL    FROM    NAIROBI  9 

I  kept  looking;  tor  more  larins,  hut  this  was  tlic  last 
hahitation  seen  until  \vc  came  to  the  ahandoued  (iovern- 
inent  post  at  Rumuruti  li\e  days  later.  'I'he  eoiuitry 
through  which  we  passed  still  teems  witii  hartebeeste, 
both  Coke's  and  Jackson's,  steinbuck,  thomi,  granti, 
and  zebra  roaming  in  large  herds  ;  bushhuck,  reedbuck 
and  waterbuck  were  frequently  to  be  seen.  But  in  a 
few  years  it  will  all  be  farm-land — there  will  be  dozens 
of  tin   houses,  instead  of  one.      The  game  will  go. 

Although  the  rainy  season  was  suj^posed  to  be  oxer, 
it  rained  every  evening,  a  cold,  penetrating  downpour. 
Two  porters  had  decided  by  the  third  tiay  that  the 
constantly  increasing  altitude  and  cold  nights  ditl  not 
agree  with  them,  and  had  left  us,  one  taking  the  pre- 
caution to  break  open  his  box  and  drink  a  bottle  of 
bay  rum  in  order  to  tone  up  his  system,  and  the  other 
— a  careless  beggar  this — leaving  his  blanket  and  water- 
bottle  behind  him. 

We  saw  a  fine  cheetah  sunning  himself  on  a  rock, 
a  long  distance  ofT,  but  he  vanished  before  wx  could 
get  near  enough  to  take  a  picture  of  him.  A  mangy 
old  hyena  ambled  awkwardly  ahead  of  us  across  the 
trail.  Both  the  greater  and  the  lesser  bustards  were 
plentiful,  yet  too  wary  were  they  for  the  photographer. 
Prolific  rains  had  turned  everything  to  a  vivid  green. 
There  was  none  of  the  burnt  and  i:)arched  effect  that 
I  had  always  pictured  as  part  of  the  African  landscape. 

Charm  has  been  aptly  defined   as  the   "capacity  for 
infinite  surprise,"    and    it     is    the    jirincijial    reason    lor 
Africa's  hold    upon   both  resident    and    \isitor.     As    we 
3 


10  THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

climbed  up  from  our  camp  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Olgolositt,  we  turned  and  looked  back.  The  rains 
had  increased  the  lake  to  almost  twice  its  usual  size, 
the  safari  had  waded  and  paddled  for  hours  on  the 
day  before  through  the  overflowed  meadow  lands.  From 
the  high  ground,  we  could  see  a  little  bunch  of  hippo- 
potami skirting  the  reeds  on  the  far-off  shore.  Thou- 
sands of  strange  herons  and  flamingoes  were  wading 
about  in  the  marshes,  and  water-fowl  of  all  descriptions, 
mallard,  teal  and  beautiful  Egyptian  geese  traded  from 
one  end  of  the  lake  to  the  other.  To  the  north,  the 
heavily-wooded  slopes  of  the  Abadares,  the  haunts  still 
of  herds  of  elephants,  lifted  their  massive  crests  into 
the  depths  of  the  opaque  white  clouds.  But  we  had 
not  gone  a  mile  across  the  rising  table-land  when  we 
stopped  in  surprise  and  delight.  There,  seventy  or 
eighty  miles  to  the  eastward,  rose  the  peak  of  Kenia 
against  the  clear  blue  sky.  It  glistened  like  a  great 
diamond  at  the  apex,  and  the  white  of  glacier  and 
snow  line  faded  into  a  delicate  hazy  blue,  beneath 
which  showed  the  darker  line  of  the  forest,  and  up  to 
its  very  base  swept  the  undulating  fair  green  of  the 
veldt.  In  the  space  between  the  Abadares  and  the 
great  mountain,  the  thin  veil  of  a  morning  shower 
fell  slantwise,  moving  like  a  trailing  feather  to  the 
west.  Quite  close,  in  almost  every  direction,  were 
herds  of  game. 

Kongoni  sentinels,  alert  and  watchful,  gazed  at  us 
from  what  they  deemed  safe  distance.  A  herd  of 
zebra  mares  with  their  foals  galloped  away  and  wheeled 


THROUGH    THK    HUNTERS    I'ARAUISl:. 


.^^'»'?^i*)^'^^f5[^j^, 


r  h^} 


l^P 


-KIRTING     LAKl';     ULGULOSITT 


ON   THE   TRAIL    FROM    NAIROBI        ii 

as  if  at  a  word  of  command,  and  stood  as  tlioii^li  at  a 
review  watching  our  approach.  Little  steinhuck  bmst 
out  of  the  grass  hke  rabbits  out  of  tlieir  burrows 
and  flourished  off,  doubhng  and  tw'isting.  The  aii 
was  crisp  and  cool ;  it  was  a  day  in  which  to  enjoy 
the  essence  of  existence.  We  had  started  early,  and 
we  made  some  nineteen  miles  before  evening,  iiead- 
ing  due  north,  all  in  good  spirits,  the  porters  sing- 
ing, and  "  Mack  "  and  "  Lady,"  the  two  dogs,  returning 
from  a  dozen  futile  chases  with  as  much  joy  as  if 
they    had    brought   their  quarry    to    the   ground. 

I  cannot  tell  where  the  change  began,  but  sud- 
denly w^e  noticed  that  the  grass  was  not  so  green, 
that  the  reddish  brown  earth  was  giving  w^ay  to  sandy 
stretches,  and  that  the  thorn  trees  had  a  dimmed 
and  dusty  appearance.  In  the  nineteen  miles,  we  had 
stepped  into  an  entirely  different  country.  The  game 
had  been  left  behind,  and  we  camped  that  night  on 
the  edge  of  a  waterless  brook,  whose  hot  grey  stones 
had  known  no  rain  for  weeks.  Our  guide  had  ex- 
pected to  find  it  running  full,  but  it  did  not  flow 
from  the  Abadares  for  we  had  crossed  the  watershed. 
We  had  expended  our  last  drop  in  making  tea  for 
luncheon,  and  search  w^as  made  for  a  pool  that  might 
give  us  enough  water  for  our  needs  that  evening.  At 
last  we  found  one — a  little  pebbly  spring  at  the  base  of 
a  great  rock.  A  porter  had  found  it  also  ;  he  was 
standing  ankle  deep  in  it  giving  himself  a  bath.  Not 
only  that,  but  his  discarded  single  garment  and  a  cake 
of    soap    proved    that   he  was  a    man  of    cleanly  habits. 


12  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

A  half  mile  farther  on,  we  found  another  smaller  pool, 
before  a  porter  had  come  across  it.  It  was  green  and 
slimy,  but  after  filtering  and  boiling,  the  water  served 
its  purpose.  We  were  learning  much  about  the 
African  country,  and  not  a  little  about  the  African 
himself! 

Away  to  the  south  some  eight  or  ten  miles,  it  was 
pouring  torrents,  and  just  at  sunset  the  cloud  efifects 
were  grand  and  marvellous  beyond  description,  but 
only  a  few  drops  fell  where  we  were,  although  one 
could  almost  have  sworn  that  he  heard  the  descent  of 
the  deluge  so  near  by.  It  was  one  of  the  surprises 
that  we  got  quite  used  to  before  the  year  was  out. 


chaptf:r  II 

ALONG    THK    I'ASHU    NERU    FROM    RrMlRUTI 

TO  archer's  post 

RUMURUTI  had  once  been  an  important  Govern- 
ment post  and  fort  in  the  days  when  tlie  Masai 
had  inhabited  the  country,  but  now  that  great  tribe  of 
herdsmen  have  made  an  exodus  under  Government 
promises  and  supervision  to  the  south  of  the  Uganda 
Railway  line,  an  exchange  that  was  fair  robbery  in 
the  minds  of  a  few  people  to-day,  who  insist  they 
know  something  about  it.  So  Rumuruti  has  fallen 
from  its  high  state,  to  become  the  residence  of  a 
lonely  and  much  sun-burned  white  man  who  holds 
the  important  position  of  Inspector  of  horses,  cattle 
and  camels.  Here  were  gathered  an  encampment 
of  Somalis,  those  prideful,  wealthy  and  self-satisfied 
nomads  who  consider  themselves  far  above  the  blacks 
and  several  rounds  in  the  social  ladder  above  the 
Englishman.  The  Somali  is  a  combination  of  the 
Jew,  the  Gipsy  and  the  Seminole  Indian.  You  cannot 
beat  him  at  a  bargain,  he  will  do  you  at  a  horse  trade, 
and  he  has  all  the  arrogance  of  the  still   unwhijiiied. 

We  were  in  the  land  of  the  lions  now,  and  it 
was  at  Rumuruti  that  we  first  heard  them  roaring  in 
the   distance.     The    inspector   had   shot   a   large   lioness 

13 


14  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

inside  the  Government  boma,  while  she  was  firmly 
attached  to  the  nose  of  a  cow,  and  was  endeavouring 
to  drag  it  out  through  a  hole,  through  which  she  had 
just  scraped  her  own  lean  body.  A  big  black-maned 
male  had  taken  a  haunch  of  beef  out  of  a  tree  within 
twenty  feet  of  the  inspector's  window  the  night  be- 
fore we  arrived.  Another  visitor  put  in  appearance 
at  the  post  about  the  same  time  we  did.  He  was  the 
Game  Ranger,  whose  jurisdiction  covers  some  hun- 
dreds of  square   miles  north-west  of  Nairobi. 

Newly  opened  countries  bring  forth  strange  charac- 
ters. Extremes  meet  in  most  natural,  if  most  un- 
expected places.     I  can  well  imagine  G in  white 

spats  and  a  grey  topper  at  Ascot  (sans  his  luxuriant 
golden  grey  whiskers),  or  sitting  in  the  corner  at 
White's  Club  detailing  his  turf  winnings  or  losses  im- 
perturbably,  in  the  same  high  accents  of  Belgravia  that 
he  used  in  describing  the  shortcomings  of  his  half- 
naked  personal  boy  or  the  good  qualities  of  his  saddle 
mule,  on  the  tumble-down  verandah  of  the  inspector's 
house.  I  suppose,  in  the  first  instance,  his  eye-glass 
would  have  been  attached  to  his  person  by  a  silk 
cord  instead  of  a  shoe-string,  but  his  personality 
would   have  remained  unchanged. 

I  have  been  subsequently  told  that  like  "  a  trooper 
of  the  forces,  he  had  run  his  own  six  horses,"  with 
the  usual  results.  But  if  any  man  ever  showed  con- 
tentment at  his  present  lot  by  his  demeanour,  it  was 
our  friend  the  ranger. 

Leaving    Rumuruti,    we     pressed    on    to    the    north- 


i-tr. 


HEAVY      GOING 


-1 


THE    CAMP    IN    THE    PARK-LIKE    COUNTRY 


ALONG   THE    UASHU    NERU  i5 

west,  skirting  the  long  swamp,  heading  tor  the  ruin 
Peaks,  near  which  the  trail  leads  down  from  the  tahle- 
land  to  the  valley  of  the  Uashu  Neru.  The  coinitry 
kept  constantly  ciianging,  those  marvellous  transitions 
so  common  to  Africa.  It  is  a  curious  thing  to  mark 
also  the  sudden  changes  in  the  animal  life.  In  a 
day's  march,  you  may  leave  the  land  of  kongoni,  and 
come  into  that  of  the  oryx.  Cross  the  river  and  the 
common  wide-striped  Burchall's  zebra  are  left  behind, 
while  his  more  beautiful  and  larger  brother,  the 
Grevy  zebra,  is  seen  in  abundance.  Almost  every 
night  we  heard  the  lions  now,  far  away,  while  the 
hyenas  wailed  close  round  our  camp,  as  soon  as 
darkness  had  settled.  The  game  continued  plentiful. 
We  got  our  first  glimpse  of  eland  and  giraffe,  a  mag- 
nificent bull  crossing  in  front  of  us  with  his  rocking- 
horse  gait,  graceful  for  all  his  ungainliness.  The  flora 
was  changing  with  every  mile  we  made.  We  crossed 
beautiful  little  valleys  with  tall  grass,  springs,  and  high 
trees  in  which  played  and  frolicked  troops  of  long- 
tailed  monkeys.  Herds  of  the  beautiful  impalla  gazelle 
were  on  every  side  of  us,  and  a  great  rock  rising 
sheer  and  straight  like  a  castle  some  two  hundred 
feet  was  peopled  by  a  colony  of  large  baboons.  Twice 
we  had  to  ford  two  swollen  rivers,  felling  trees  and 
hauling  the  mules  across  by  ropes.  There  were  no 
trails  now  except  those  made  by  the  game,  but  we 
made  good  time  along  the  rhino  paths,  and  saw  one 
or  two  of  the  big  beasts  in  the  distance  as  they 
disappeared  into  the  thorn  bush. 


i6  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

On  Monday,  the  second  of  June,  we  made  our 
longest  and  our  hardest  march,  over  twenty-two  miles 
without  water,  and  arrived  on  the  bank  of  the  Uashu 
Neru.  Never  will  any  of  us  forget  the  sight  as  the 
safari  wended  its  way  down  the  steep  path  from  the 
upland.  It  was  like  marching  into  a  painting.  To 
the  north  rose  mountain  after  mountain  in  fantastic 
form.  In  the  first  mile,  we  descended  900  feet. 
Buffalo  and  rhino  spoor  were  plentiful,  rock  rabbits 
abounded,  but  we  saw  not  another  living  thing  until 
in  the  afternoon  we  sighted  a  troop  of  girafle  in  the 
distance.  Four  days  later,  following  the  river,  we 
came  to  Neumann's  historic  camp,  where  he  had 
once  built  a  big  grass  house  and  laid  out  a  garden 
while  he  trafficked  with  the  natives  for  ivory.  Poor 
Neumann,  who  came  to  such  a  tragic  end,  became 
too  powerful,  and  the  Government  banished  him, 
forbidding  his  return  to  the  land  that  he  really  must 
have  loved. 

We  were  in  the  land  of  the  palm  tree  now,  and 
the  river  banks  were  fringed  with  the  gracefully 
drooping  fan-like  branches.  It  was  growing  warmer, 
almost  too  hot  to  march  at  noonday,  but  we 
pressed  ahead,  and  on  the  7th  arrived  at  Archer's 
Post,  the  main  crossing  of  the  Government  trail  to 
its  outlying  military  post  at  Marsabit.  We  had  sent 
runners  ahead  three  weeks  before  to  see  if  camels 
could  not  be  purchased  or  arranged  for  at  this  point, 
in  order  to  take  us  with  greater  comfort  into  the 
waterless    district    north    of    the    river,    but    no    camels 


v^JtS» 


THK     I'AMOUS    NKUMANNS    CAMP 


ALONG   THE   UASHU   NERU  i? 

were  procurable.  The  tew  that  were  there  were 
sickly,  for  a  disease  was  rile  among  them  and  their 
Somali    owners    woidd    not    undertake   the   journey. 

We  found  at  the  post  a  young  Englishman  li\ing 
all  alone.  He  had  been  there  for  fourteen  months 
in  practical  solitude.  Except  for  the  visit  of  an  oc- 
casional hunting  safari  during  the  season,  and  a 
monthly  mail,  he  might  have  been  living  on  a  desert 
island.  1  was  amused  to  see  a  bag  of  goH  clubs 
leaning  against  the  pole  of  his  palm-leat  hut,  and  a 
course  of  three  holes  laid  out  on' a  sandy  flat.  On  the 
table  was  an  American  talking  machine  and  a  score 
of  disc  records.  His  name  was  Claydon,  and  of  him 
more  hereafter,  for  he  figures  quite  largely  in  one 
nearly  tragic  story  that  will  be  told  in  a  later 
chapter. 

Noticing  that  our  attention  was  drawn  to  the 
pickled  music,  he  smiled.  "Have  a  concert  every 
evening,"  he  said.  "I  think  that  old  machine  has 
saved    me  from  going  mad  at  times." 

"Yes,  it  is  a  bit  lonely.  Do  any  of  you  chaps 
play  golf?" 

It  was  a  new  course,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  that 
I  did  not  distinguish  myself.  I  lost  one  of  the  precious 
balls,  and  nearly  killed  a  Meru  porter,  who  tried 
to  stop  a  long  low  drive  with  the   back  of  his  head. 

The  ferry  across  the  river  here  had  been  an  old 
pontoon  that  was  hauled  across  by  means  of  pulleys, 
on  a  wire,  but  the  aflfair  had  gone  out  of  commission, 
and  the  pontoon  was  now  sunk  in  midstream,  and  with 

4 


i8  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

it  had  ^one  down  two  Somalis,  one  of  whom  had 
been  saved  by  Claydon  swimming  out  to  him  with  a 
rope,  a  pkicky  thing  to  go,  as  the  river  here  is  full 
of  crocodiles  of  the  very  worst  reputation.  The 
rescued  Somali  was  disconsolate  at  the  loss  of  his 
friend,  and  he  was  still  hanging  about  the  banks  as 
if  he  expected  him  to  come  up  again.  His  grief 
was  very  genuine,  and  well  understood  when  it 
was  disclosed  that  the  missing  one  had  sixty  pounds 
in  gold  on  his  person,  forty  of  which  the  bereaved 
brother    claimed    to    be    his    own ! 

It  was  now  a  case  of  waiting  until  the  river 
should  go  down,  or  getting  the  pontoon  over  to  the 
bank.  A\e  were  making  plans  to  do  the  latter 
when  a  detachment  of  the  King's  African  Rifles 
arrived  on  their  way  south,  under  charge  of  a  young 
captain  who  was  certainly  the  best  looking  young 
fellow  that  I  had  seen  in  many  a  day.  As  they  were 
on  the  north  bank  and  had  to  cross  over,  we  let  them 
get  the  pontoon  out  for  us.  These  black  soldiers  wTre 
a  finely  set  up,  sturdy  lot  from  down  towards  Nyassaland, 
After  two  hours'   work  they  had  the   ferry  running. 

I  might  here  record  that  it  was  this  detachment 
that  had  had  the  bru  h  with  the  Abyssinian  raiders 
up  near  the  border,  and  a  very  interesting  story 
they  had  to  tell.  From  all  accounts,  that  band  of 
marauders  will  raid  no  more.  The  King's  African 
Rifles  had  l(jst  one  white  officer  killed  and  one 
wounded,  and  a  number  or  their  men.  I  wonder  if 
a  full   account   of    these     skirmishes     ever     appears    m 


ALONG   THE   UASHU   NERU  19 

the  Government  Blue  Hook.  As  an  old  war  corres- 
pondent, I  would  like  to  tell  the  story  just  as  it  was 
told  to  me,   hut  it  has  no  place   here. 

On  the  afternoon  the  ferry  was  put  in  order  we 
crossed  to  the  north  hank,  nearly  drowning  a 
mule  in  the  process,  and  went  into  canij).  I'hree 
days  later,  after  three  lon^  marches,  we  pitched  camp 
and  raised  a  lar^e  palm  thatched  hut  in  which  to 
leave  a  good  deal  of  our  supplies  and  estahlish  a 
base.  Owing  to  the  lack  of  water,  it  was  necessary 
to  press  on  quickly  to  the  north,  and  carry  light 
loads. 

Five  large  canvas  bags  had  been  made,  holding 
from  forty  to  fifty  gallons,  that  could  be  carried  shmg 
on  poles  on  the  porters'  shoulders.  While  these  pre- 
parations were  made,  Kearton,  Lydford,  and  myself, 
with  a  small  detachment,  made  a  little  trek  down  along 
the  Lorian  Swamp  trail  to  Chanler  Falls,  that  beau- 
tiful cascade  discovered  by  an  American  explorer  only 
a  few  years  before. 

The  Uashu  Neru  is  a  mysterious  stream.  Although 
broad  and  deep,  and  running  in  places  with  great 
swiftness,  it  pours  its  waters  into  the  great  Lorian 
Swamp  and  disappears,  for  so  far  as  is  know^n  at  the 
present  time  there  is  no  outlet  to  the  sea.  Like  Lake 
Navassha,  in  Western  British  East  Africa,  that  figures 
in  one  of  Rider  Haggard's  stories,  it  may  ha\e  some 
subterranean  outlet.  The  falls  themselves  are  peculiar 
and  picturesque.  The  river  seems  to  disappear  in 
the    great    ledge  of    porous  limestone   and    gushes   forth 


20  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

as  if  |-)()nriii.ii  from  separate  culverts  in  the  face  of 
tlie  ^reat  rock.  At  the  time  we  visited  it  one  could 
cross  almost  dry  shod  from  shore  to  shore,  although 
the  great  mass  of  water  fiowing  underneath  shows 
plainly  in    the   photograph. 

On  the  18th  of  June,  we  started  north  by  moon- 
light in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning,  and  before 
we  camped  for  the  night  had  covered  some  twenty- 
six  miles.  It  was  fortunate  that  the  moon  was  at  the 
full,  tor  the  midday  sun  was  fairly  scorching.  The 
barometer  showed  that  we  were  constantly  descending. 
The  character  of  the  country  became  more  parched  and 
barren,  and  there  was  notliing  but  the  scantiest  forage 
on  the  thorn  bushes.  On  the  third  day,  we  began 
to  see  signs  of  game— oryx,  gerenuk,  impalla,  and 
many  dik-dik. 

On  the  23rd,  we  arrived  at  the  "picture  ground." 
We  had  passed  one  oasis  where  there  was  some  water, 
mucli  impregnated  with  soda,  and  hardly  drinkable, 
but  here  we  found  a  large  encampment  of  Samburra, 
and  a  very  fair  supply  of  good  water  in  the  wells 
that  they  had  dug  down  to  a  depth  of  seven  or  eight 
feet,  and  where  they  watered  their  herds  of  donkeys, 
sheep,  and  goats.  Nine  miles  away  lay  the  stretch 
of  sandy  river  bed  where  the  animals  came  to  drink 
at  tfie  hples  dug  by  rhinos  and  elephants.  Far  away 
on  either  hand  as  we  progressed  lay  stretches  of  great 
hills  and  high  mountains,  the  tops  of  some  of  the 
latter  shrouded  in  clouds.  It  had  been  our  great  fear 
that    rain    would   fall.      A  week's    hard   downfall    would 


THE    RAPIDS    OF    THE    UASHU    NERU 


A    CLOSE    VIEW    QV    THE    RAPIDS 


ALONG  THE  UASHU  NKRU     21 

have  absolutely  destroyecl  any  ehaiice  ol  ^ettin^  tlic 
game  belore  the  eaniera,  unless  by  tli;a  most  dilliciilt 
of  all  methods,  stalkintjj,  that  we  tried  so  maiiv  times 
in  vain,  but  no  rain  to  speak  ot  had  fallen  lor  a 
twelvemonth,  and  sometimes  there  is  no  rain  reeorded 
here  for  two  years  or  more.  \\  here  the  water  comes 
from  it  is  hard  to  imagine,  but  at  certain  spots  in  the 
sandy  stream  bed  it  can  be  procured  by  di^^in^,  and 
in    a  very  few  places  it   showed  above  the  surface. 

The  tall  escarpment  lined  with  a  j^rowth  ol  thorn 
trees  rose  in  a  slieer  ascent  about  a  mile  away  to  the 
eastward,  and  down  the  steep  sides  the  eleiihant  and 
rhino  had  worn  clearly  defined  paths  that  would  have 
done  credit  to  a  construction  gang  in  charge  of  a 
clever  engineer.  The  Samburra  visited  our  camp  on 
the  night  of  our  arrival,  bringing  milk  in  leather  bottles, 
but  it  had  all  been  singed  or  burnt  by  thrusting  a 
burning  ember  into  it,  and  it  was  attractive  neither 
to  look  nor  taste.  Howxver,  before  many  days  went 
by  I,   at  least,  for  one,  was  glad  to  get  it. 

The  next  day  w^e  started  searching  for  the  best 
places  to  put  up  our  blinds,  or  hide-ups.  To  our  joy 
we  found  evidences  that  there  was  an  abundance  of 
game  in  the  neighbourhood.  Fresh  elephant  and  rhino 
spoor  and  hoofprints  of  oryx,  impalla,  gerenuk, 
giraffe,  and,  to  our  surprise,  buffalo,  were  apparent. 
Beautiful  Grevy  zebra  abounded  everywhere,  and  1 
am  sure  that  there  were  two  or  three  different  species 
of  the  smaller  gazelle  commoidy  known  as  dik-dik. 
Leopards  and  lions  had  left   the  impress   of    their    soft 


22  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

pads  in  the  yielding  sand,  and  the  night  of  our  arrival 
we  were  greeted  by  a  concert,  two  males  shouting 
and  roaring  at  each  other  not  a  niile  from  the  tent. 
But  up  to  this  moment,  although  we  had  been  on  the 
look-out,  and  had  heard  them  times  without  number, 
we  had  not  seen  a  single  lion.  We  were  to 
get  quite  close  enough  to  them  before  our  stay  was 
over. 

The  second  day  we  found  the  place  we  were 
looking  for,  which  was,  as  I  have  stated,  nine  miles 
from  the  camp.  We  had  also  laid  out  our  plan  of 
campaign,  the  two  principal  ideas  of  which  were  these  : 
that  we  would  do  no  shooting  while  the  photographs 
were  being  taken,  and,  if  there  was  any  to  be  done, 
— and,  of  course,  meat  had  to  be  secured — it  would 
be  miles  in  the  opposite  direction  from  where  we 
had  located  our  hide-ups. 

For  years,  the  Wanderobo,  those  prowling  hunters 
of  low  caste  that  are  to  be  found  all  through  East 
Africa,  and  correspond  in  habits  to  the  Bushman  of 
the  far  south,  the  Wambuti  of  the  forest  country,  and 
the  Batwa  of  the  hills,  have  been  wont  to  dwell  in  little 
clefts  or  caves  in  the  rocks  on  the  banks  of  the  dead 
and  dusty  river.  Lydford  had  picked  out  one  of  these, 
that,  with  a  little  work,  could  be  made  into  a  shelter 
sufficient  to  accommodate  four  men.  We  bridged  it 
over  with  some  thorn  bushes  and  slabs  of  palm  wood. 
It  did  not  look  very  secure  when  we  had  finished, 
and  Kearton  said,  as  he  surveyed  it: 

"  Now  if  a    lion    jumps    on    that,    the    whole    thing 


ALONG   THE    UASHU   NFRU  23 

will    come    to    smash    ami    he    can    jiick    us    out    at    his 
leisure." 

Not  a  comforting  thought,  take  it  altogether,  when 
we  came  to  reason  it  out.  Nevertheless,  in  this  nar- 
row little  cleft  in  the  rocks,  we  subsequently  passed 
some  very  exciting,  if  not  adventurous  nights,  and 
from  here  we  set  out  every  morning  for  the  hide-ups, 
where,  under  a  grilling  sun,  with  a  temperature  rang- 
ing between  120  and  130,  we  waited  for  the  animals  to 
come  down  to  the  water.  There  were  many  days 
when  we  drew  complete  blanks,  and  others  when  the 
excitement  and  reward  of  accomplished  purpose 
repaid  us  for  the  fierce  grilling  and  all  the  attendant 
discomforts  to  which  we  were   subjected. 


CHAPTER  III 

picture   land the    little    back    room   in 

noah's  ark 

CURIOSITY  and  caution  are  strangely  blended 
in  all  wild  beasts,  but  the  latter  element  is 
mainly  predominant,  and  perhaps  the  curiosity  shown 
is  but  another  name  for  the  extremest  caution;  that 
is,  the  animal  seems  bent  upon  making  a  close  and 
still  closer  inspection  of  anything  that  appears  to  be 
strange  and  out  of  its  usual  experience,  a  cautious 
testing  as  to  whether  the  unusual  object,  be  it  stationary 
or  moving,  is  harmless  or  harmful.  Every  wild  four- 
footed  animal  unacquainted  with  the  death -dealing 
power  of  firearms  will  turn  after  a  few  swift  bounds, 
or  a  frightened  burst  of  speed,  and  gaze  all  alert  at 
the  intruder  before  making  a  swift  mental  decision 
as  to  the  best  means  of  self-preservation.  It  is  the 
hunter's  opportunity,  and  that  sudden  pause  and  look 
back  has  cost  many  a  naturally  wary  animal  its 
life.  It  is  not  stupidity,  as  some  thoughtless  and 
casual  writers  have  observed.  It  is  exactly  the  reverse. 
It  is  the  instinct,  the  ingrained  nature  of  the  beast 
who  depends  upon  eyesight,  sense  of  smell  and 
swiftness    of   foot,    to    escape    from    manifold    dangers. 

Now,  to  place   a  strange  and  possibly  obtrusive  object 

24 


PICTURE   LAND  25 

suddenly  in  the  view  of  animals  that  are  preyed  upon 
by  others  would  serve  the  same  purpose  as  erecting  a 
scarecrow  in  a  field  of  standing  corn.  It  would  take 
them  a  long  time  to  get  used  to  it,  but  if  it  gradually 
assumes  proportions,  they  become  accustomed  to  it  b}^ 
degrees,  and  finding  always  by  a  close  investigation  that 
it  is  harmless,  dismiss  it  from  their  minds  and  forget 
it  altogether. 

Having  chosen  the  best  positions  for  our  hide-ups, 
it  took  us  a  full  week  to  finish  them,  although  eacli 
could  have  been  completed  in  possibly  an  hour's  time. 
After  they  had  received  the  finishing  touches,  they 
were  not  visited  by  us  for  three  or  four  days,  and  in 
every  case  we  found  that  they  had  been  subjected  to 
a  thorough  inspection.  The  wary  baboons  had  climbed 
in  and  out  of  them.  The  Grevy  zebra  had  walked  all 
around  them.  The  elephants  had  passed  their  trunks 
inside.  The  rhino  alone  had  displayed  no  interest  in 
their  presence,  but  he  is  perhaps  the  least  suspicious 
of  all  the  great  beasts  whose  size  and  strength  pre- 
cludes them  fearing  any  foe  but  man. 

"His  brain   is  small,  his  bulk  immense, 
His  sight  is  dim,  his  hearing  tense. 
He's  lacking  most  in  common  sense." 

The  first  week  was  anything  but  encouraging. 
Whether  it  was  the  fact  that  we  had  shown  ourselves 
too  openly,  or  perhaps  our  scent  remained  too  strong 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  our  hiding-places,  we  could 
not   at   first    determine.     At  all   events  we    got    no    pic- 


26  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

tures  worth  recording,  and  we  returned  to  the  Sainhurra 
camp  tired  and  disheartened.  Three  days,  or  at  the 
best  four,  we  found  were  quite  suflficient.  It  required 
the  remainder  of  the  week  to  rest  up.  We  found 
that  we  were  not  the  only  occupants  of  the  cleft  in  the 
rocks.  Lizards,  beetles,  wasps,  spiders,  in  fact,  biting 
insects  of  all  kinds,  insisted  upon  sharing  our  lodging, 
and  also  a  most  objectionable  tick,  that  when  he  once 
got  ht^ld  of  you,  buried  his  head  in  your  tender  flesh, 
and  produced  a  dark  red  swelling  about  the  size  of  a 
shilling,  that  burned  and  itched  like  a  coal  of  fire. 
Entomology  was  not  one  of  our  pursuits,  but  we  had 
found  a  capital  place  in  which  to  pursue  a  few 
elusive  and  possibly  rare  specimens.  After  a  con- 
sultation, we  concluded  that  we  would  no  longer 
light  any  fire  down  by  the  hide-ups,  and  that  we 
would  have  our  food  brought  from  the  Samburra  camp, 
and  left  at  a  big  tree  a  mile  above  the  cave,  sending 
for  it  in  the  early  morning,   every  other  day. 

Our  second  attempt  was  more  encouraging  and 
prolific  of  experience.  We  discovered  that  we  must 
get  up  earlier.  We  must  be  at  the  hide-ups  before 
the  animals  began  to  move,  and  this  meant  daybreak. 
Another  thing  we  learned,  there  were  too  many 
of  the  little  wells  pawed  out  by  those  capital 
hydraulic  engineers,  Messrs.  Kifaru,  Tembo,  and 
Co.,  the  rhino  and  elephant,  so  we  employed  our- 
selves in  stopping  many  of  the  outlying  ones  with  heavy 
stones  and  thorn  bush  branches,  and  covering  the 
whole    with   sand.       We    did    navvy's  work    at    this   for 


PICTURE   LAND  27 

some  days,  and  our  efforts  were  rewarded.  We  be^an 
to  learn  much  about  the  drinking  habits  of  animals, 
at  what  time  we  might  expect  the  oryx,  when  the 
impalla  quench  their  thirst,  the  time  to  look  for  the 
baboon,  and  the  Grevy  zebra,  or  the  j^iratile.  Some 
only  drank  in  the  morning,  some  in  the  evening, 
some  twice  a  day,  and  the  giraffe  was  satisfied  with 
once  every  five  days,  but  he  was  as  regular  as  a 
clock.  Every  now^  and  then  we  had  unexpected 
visitors,  a  water  buck,  for  instance,  and  Heaven  only 
knows  what  he  was  doing  up  in  that  hot,  parched 
country.  Jackal,  wnld  pig,  and  w^art-hog  put  in  oc- 
casional appearance.  We  also  saw  gerenuk,  those 
long-necked,  uncanny-looking  gazelle,  near  the  water 
holes,  but  not  once  did  we  see  one  drinking.  It  is 
the  popular  idea,  even  among  the  natives,  that  they 
do  not  drink  at  all.  This  can  hardly  be  so,  but  they 
feed  late  into  the  evening  after  the  dew  has  fallen 
and  are  moving  before  sunrise.  Perhaps  they  are  noc- 
turnal drinkers.  I  am  sufficiently  convinced  that  they 
can  see  well  in  semi-darkness. 

The  elephants,  to  our  great  mortification,  only 
came  down  at  night.  We  could  see  them  in  the 
faint  light,  moving  sometimes  within  less  than  a 
hundred  yards  from  our  little  back  room  in  Noah's 
Ark.  They  screamed  and  trumpeted,  blowing  sand 
and  water  over  their  huge  bodies,  but  only  once  did 
one  linger  long  enough  for  us  to  get  a  good  sight  of 
him  by  daylight.  He  was  a  huge  lone  bull  with 
small    tusks,  and  as  it  was  the  first  wild    elephant  that 


28  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

I    had    clearly     seen    I    compared     liini    with    my   recol- 
lection of    the   famous  Jumbo,   and   Jumbo  sutJered   by 
comparison.     It  is  not  always  the  largest  elej")hant  that 
carries  the  heaviest  ivory,  and  I  doubt  if  this  big  bull's 
tusks  would   have   gone  over  thirty  or  thirty-five  pounds. 
It  was   early   dawn   when   we    discovered    him,  wander- 
ing   about    the  sandy   river  bed,   and    very    cautiously, 
with    the    cameras    ready,    we    began    to    stalk   him.     I 
do     not    doubt    but     what    we    could     fiave     secured 
some   pictures  had  it  not  been  for  the  irritating  habits 
of     the     baboons,    whose     different     colonies     in     the 
neighbourhood    would     have     made    a    population     of 
thousands.     Whether  they   had    made  a  compact  with 
the  elejohant    to  play  sentry  for    him    we    never    could 
determine,    but    at    a   single    bark  from   a  watchful  old 
female  baboon,  who  was  observing  us  from  a  tree-top, 
he  was  off,   ears    spread  out    like    spinnakers.     Having 
been    thus  disclosed,    we   started    after    him    hot    foot, 
but    as    he    easily   went    eiglit    miles    to    our    five,    we 
were    soon    distanced  and    gave  it  up.     He   must    have 
been    a    rampageous    old     fellow    possessed    of     great 
strength    and    a    vile     temper,    for    he    had    needlessly 
wrecked    the     scenery,    overturning    fiuge    trees,    some 
two  feet  in    diameter,  and  tossing  them  about  all  over 
the    place.       He    did     not    belong    to    the    escarpment 
herd,   that   consisted    mainly   of   cows    with   calves,    and 
very    young    bulls.       He    was     just    a    pestiferous    old 
bachelor,    or,  perhaps,  a    disgruntled   widower.     At    all 
events,    he    disdained    the    company  of    his   kind,    and 
wfien    he    was    down,    and    the    desire    for    drink   was 


f   lltti^^"'"'* "     '  illli!'li|i'ii"ii»"*MMHP<!^.'ll^  ^ 


WATCHING    GAME    FROM    THK    HILL-SIDE 


THE     LITTLK     BACK     ROOM     IN     NOAH'S    ARK 


THK     WORi;     oi      OM      l-.LLPHANT 


PICTURE    LAND  29 

on  him,  the  rest  ^ave   him  a  wide    hcrtli  and    let  Iiim 
have  it  all  to  himself. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  hahoons,  our  constant  neigh- 
bours. They  irritated  us  at  times,  and  amused  us  at 
others.  That  our  presence  was  considered  an  in- 
trusion, the}'  let  us  know  by  the  use  of  most  ob- 
jectionable language.  They  swore  at  us,  cursed  us, 
threw  all  kinds  of  epithets  that  are  quite  unprintable  in 
our  direction,  jeered,  taunted  and  flaunted  us,  until 
on  one  occasion  I  thought  I  would  have  to  resort 
to  retaliation,  and  break  the  rule,  by  taking  a  pot 
shot  at  a  grey-whiskered  old  villain  who  tried  to 
incite  his  followers  to  open  attack.  After  an  angry 
harangue,  in  which  he  apparently  called  them  all 
cow'ards  and  faint  hearts,  with  a  tremendous  snarling 
and  growling,  he  dashed  forward  in  my  direction,  hair 
all  abristle,  and  great  white  fangs  showing  below 
his  curled  up  nether  lip.  Kearton  and  Lydford  were 
at  the  hide-up  below  at  the  water  hole,  and  I  was 
peaceably  but  ostensibly  shownng  myself  all  alone  at 
thft  upper  one,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  away,  in  order 
to  oblige  the  animals  to  go  farther  down  for  their 
water.  Seeing  that  he  was  not  followed,  the  old 
bully  suddenly  stopped,  and  began  searching  about 
him  on  the  ground.  I  thought  for  an  instant  that 
he.  was  looking  for  a  stone  to  throw  at  me,  and 
finding  one  first  myself  heaved  it  in  his  direction. 
He  uttered  a  grunt  of  contemjn  at  my  marksmanship, 
and  further  expressed  his  feelings  by  turning  his 
b^^k  to  me,  and  slowly  retreating,  looking     over    his 


30  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

shoulder  every  now  and  then,  as  it  to  say:  "If 
I  had  only  one  or  two  to  back  nie  Td  teach 
you  something,  youn^-feller-me-lad  !  "  I  am  not 
certain  whether  there  were  different  varieties  fre- 
quenting the  water  holes  or  not,  but  certainly 
this  belligerent  old  warrior  was  twice  the  size  of  any 
baboon  T  have  seen  before  or  since ;  he  would  have 
weighed   close  to  one   hundred  and  thirty  pounds. 

Dow  II  in  the  hide-ups,  when  we  got  there  before 
the  baboons  were  aware  of  our  presence,  we  have 
often  been  convulsed  with  laughter  at  their  antics. 
They  had  regular  games,  and  impromptu  sports, 
and  comported  themselves  exactly  like  a  huge  picnic 
party  out  for  a  good  time  in  the  country.  The 
young  ones  played  "king  of  the  mound"  on  a 
great  smooth-surfaced  rock,  hurling  each  other  off 
and  climbing  up  again,  each  one  in  turn  maintain- 
ing but  a  momentary  supremacy,  and  all  the  time  in 
the  best  of  humour  and  childish  spirits.  The 
mothers,  with  their  infants  on  their  backs,  would 
come  down  and  deposit  them  by  the  water,  and 
then  sit  about  and  gossip,  keeping  a  watchful  eye 
on  their  offspring  all  the  time.  The  old  men  sat 
apart  with  their  hands  on  their  knees  just  as  you 
see  old  grandfathers  sitting  on  the  l^ench  after  the 
day's  work  is  done.  The  loving  couples  found 
secluded  corners  and  either  sat  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
in  the  enjoyment  of  soulful  communion,  or  spooned 
or  quarrelled  to  their  heart's  content.  Never  will  we 
forget    one    old    fellow,    a    great-great-grandfather    he 


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PICTURE   LAND  31 

might  have  been  from  the  appearance  of  him,  sitting 
in  dignified  solemnity  by  the  side  of  a  water  hole.  Every 
now  and  then  he  scratched  himself  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  lower  ribs. 

"He's  looking  for  a  match,"  said  Kearton,  in  a 
whisper.      "  He'll  light  his  pipe  presently." 

We  got  in  such  fits  of  silent  laughter  sometimes 
that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  photograph.  A  little 
baby  bab  who  was  still  in  the  crawling,  or,  better,  toddling 
stage,  fell  into  the  water  hole  near  where  the  old  man 
was  sitting.  In  a  very  leisurely  manner  the  old  fellow 
hauled  him  out,  looked  him  in  the  face  reprovingly, 
turned  him  upside  down,  administered  a  slap,  and  called 
the  mother's  attention  to  what  the  young  one  was  about. 
Mind  you,  all  this  is  not  exaggeration.  It  is  absolute 
fact.  They  never  appeared  at  odd  hours,  but  generally 
towards  nine  o'clock,  and  their  stay  never  lasted  longer 
than  forty  minutes.  A  lone  bark  sounded,  followed  by  a 
series  of  others,  and  slowly  they  retreated  to  their  rocky 
castles,  perhaps  two  or  three  miles  away.  In  five 
minutes  after  that  signal  sounded  there  would  not  be  a 
baboon  in  sight. 

The  vultures  were  almost  always  there.  There  were 
four  or  five  varieties  of  them,  and  frequently  some 
eagles.  The  baboons — in  fact,  all  the  game — strolled 
in  and  out  amongst  them  in  most  friendly  fashion. 
These  ugly  scavengers  and  birds  of  prey  were  regulai 
topers.  They  lounged  about  the  water  holes  all  day, 
occasionally  drinking,  and  frequently  having  little  rows 
among  themselves.     Right  under  the  eye  of  the  camera 


32  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

on  one  occasion  (it  is  recorded  on  the  rtlm),  a  hi^  bull 
oryx  walked  up  to  a  ^roup  and  scattered  them  with 
his  horns.  It  was  just  like  a  policeman  saying:  "  Here, 
you  loafers,  move  on.  You've  hung  around  here  long 
enough." 

When  the  game  was  coming,  we  in  the  hide-up 
forgot  the  broiling  heat  and  the  crawling  things  that 
persisted  in  working  their  way  under  our  clothing.  It 
was  quite  fascinating  to  watch  the  timid  impr.lla 
approach.  The  ewes  shy  and  frightened— perhaps, 
being  females,  it  was  half  pretence — being  herded  along 
bv  their  lord  and  master,  and  he,  jealous  as  an  old  Turk 
with  his  harem,  making  frequent  rushes  at  the  gay 
and  unattached  Lotharios  who  hung  about  the  flanks 
of  his  polygamous  family.  The  Grevy  zebra  would 
come  trotting  down,  clattering  along  like  detachments  of 
cavalry.  Prerogatives  they  insisted  on  ;  the  stallions 
drank  before  the  mares,  and  the  mothers  before  their  off- 
spring. We  were  much  amused  by  watching  a  tidy  little 
mare  teach  her  foal  manners.  The  young  one,  a  beau- 
tiful creature,  insisted  on  putting  his  nose  into  his 
mother's  drink,  and  having  repeated  the  offence,  received 
a  good  slam  in  the  ribs  by  way  of  admonition,  not  a  hard 
kick  that  would  do  any  harm,  but  just  a  little  lesson  in 
family  etiquette  that  appeared  to  be  taken  to  heart. 

Sometimes  as  we  peered  out  through  the  peep  holes 
in  our  hide-ups,  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  many 
different  animals  gathered  at  the  same  time.  Oryx  and 
impalla,  Grevy,  wild  pig  and  vvdture  were  wandering 
about,   and   slowly    we    were    accumulating    our   photo- 


ORYX     AND     VULTURES     AT     THE     WATER     HOLES 


PICTURE   LAND  33 

grapliic  treasures,  those  we  had  come  so  many  miles  to 
get,  and  then,  after  we  had  heen  in  the  neighhourhood 
over  a  month,  came  our  two  red  letter  days.  We  had 
several  nights  that  are  firmly  impressed  on  our  memory, 
and  I  had  one  experience  perhaps  worth  recording,  for 
the  reason  of  its  varied  sensations,  hut  these  two  days 
stand  out  above  the  others,  and,  luckily  enough,  the 
moving  picture  films  have  recorded  both  occasions. 

By  the  time  we  were  ready  to  begin  actual  work  the 
brilliant  moon,  under  whose  light  we  had  marched  up 
from  the  river,  had  disappeared,  and  the  nights  were 
cloudy.  It  seemed  as  if  all  the  lions  in  the  neighbour- 
hood had  come  to  the  vicinity  of  the  water  hole.  We 
kept  no  fires,  and  the  meeting  ground  they  had  chosen 
was  but  thirty  or  forty  yards  from  our  sleeping  place. 
We  did  not  discover  until  later  that  there  was  a  large 
cave  or  den  in  the  rocks  but  a  few  yards  to  the  rear  of 
the  cleft  we  had  chosen,  and  that  a  lioness  had  evidently 
whelped  there  not  long  before.  It  was  filled  with 
bones,  among  which  zebra  and  giraffe  predominated, 
two  complete  skulls  of  the  latter  lying  near  the  mouth. 

Anyone  who  has  attended  feeding  time  at  the  Zoo 
when  old  Leo  Africanus  is  at  his  vocal  best,  can 
recall  the  peculiar  vibrating  sensation  that  seems  to 
run  through  tlie  whole  body  when  facing  an  ()|:)en- 
mouthed  and  full  grown  male,  and  more  than  once 
Kearton,  Lydford,  and  myself,  and  old  Harmonica,  the 
gun  bearer,  who  slept  on  the  rocky  floor  with  us, 
have  experienced  the  same  vibration,  only  there  were 
no    intervening  bars,   nothing  but  a  few  slabs  of  palm 


34  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

wood,  and  some  tliorn  branches,  none  too  thick  or 
sturdy.  They  met,  these  serenaders,  under  our  rock, 
raised  perhaps  some  twenty  feet  above  the  river  bed, 
but  in  two  bounds  a  hon  could  have  reached  the 
top  of  it.  We  lay  there  with  our  rifles  in  our  hands 
listening  to  the  grand,  if  somewhat  disturbing,  chorus. 
It  was  pitch  dark  outside,  and  we  had  no  light 
except  a  feebly-glowing  electric  battery  lamp,  which 
we  kept  hid  beneath  a  blanket,  ready  for  emergency.  1 
kept  thinking  of  the  photographer's  comforting 
suggestion  as  to  what  might  happen  if  one  of  the 
big  cats,  after  the  fashion  of  his  domesticated  and 
smaller  cousins,  should  attempt  to  gain  the  vantage 
point  of  our  ridgepole.  Some  nights  we  actually 
got  no  sleep  at  all.  One  evening  they  began  at 
about  eight,  and  continued  without  intermission  until 
nearly  seven  in  the  morning. 

Experienced  readers  may  wonder  why  these  lions, 
or,  in  fact,  any  of  the  other  animals,  never  got  our 
wind.  The  explanation  is  simple.  What  air  there 
was  stirring  blew  constantly  and  without  change  in 
one   direction,  from  the  south-east,  steady  as  any  trade. 

Our  hide-ups  had  been  built  to  take  full  advantage 
of  this  fact,  and  in  every  case  our  scent  was  blown 
away  from  the  water  holes.  We  had  even  found  that 
by  going  at  it  very  carefully,  we  could  smoke  sparingly 
while  taking  pictures,  without  disturbing  our  subjects. 

One  of  the  lions  wandered  up  out  of  the  sandy 
stretch  that  was  all  marked  with  their  footprints 
each   morning,   and    somehow    did    get    oiu"    wind    one 


PICTURE   LAND  35 

night.  He  had  been  imimblin.u,  and  talking  to  him- 
self good-huinouredly  enough,  hut  now  lie  ga\e  a 
sudden  snort  of  anger  and  astonishment,  and  then 
commenced  low  and  rather  threatening  grumblings, 
and  very  hoarse,  gurgling  notes  deeji  in  his  throat. 
The  others — and  we  judged  there  was  a  ciuartetce  ot 
them  just  below  us — stopped  and  ai)peared  to  be 
listening.  We  thought  the  attack,  if  they  ever  would 
attack,  was  coming.  I  heard  Lydford  ask  old  Har- 
monica if  he  had  the  spare  rifle,  and  1  remember 
the  little  black  man's  calm,  "  N'dio  bwana.  Nina 
tayari " — "Yes,  master,  I  am  ready."  There  followed 
a  dead  silence,  and  then  we  heard  the  rattling  of 
some  old  biscuit  tins  that  we  had  thrown  into  a 
hollow  at  the  base  of  the  rock.  Another  gasping 
snort,  and  a  silence,  and  we  heard  our  friends  ex- 
pressing their  feelings,  and  voicing  our  relief,  a 
hundred  yards  away  to  tlie  left. 

It  was  the  next  morning  l)ut  one  that  Kearton 
got  a  strange  picture  by  accident.  From  the  upper 
hide-up  a  large  herd  of  impalla  could  be  seen  grazing 
down  toward  the  water  hole,  and  moving  very  slo\.]y, 
when  suddenly  the  well  known  deep-toned  roar  ol  a  male 
lion  was  heard  a  short  distance  away  to  the  right.  It 
was  coming  nearer,  and  then,  most  surprising  sight, 
a  full-grown,  black-maned  fellow  came  walking,  or, 
better,  half  trotting,  along  the  edge  of  the  river 
bank,  heading  toward  the  ramp  that  led  down  to 
the  sandy  stretch,  and  as  he  came  on  he  kept  re- 
peating   those     rasping     half     grunts,     hall     barks,   that 


36  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

always  follow  the  deep-toned  bellowing  note.  With- 
out an  intake  of  breath,  he  repeated  this  over  twenty 
times.  And  the  impalla,  not  a  hundred  yards  beyond 
him,  did  not  raise  their  heads! 

They  kept  on  quietly  feeding.  It  was  a  lesson  in 
natural  history,  and  a  moment  of  intense  dramatic  in- 
terest, and  Kearton,  although  the  light  was  not 
brilliant,  had  all  the  time  kept  turning  the  handle  of 
the  Newman  silent  camera,  and  we  have  that  picture 
on  the  film.  Although  the  beautiful  black-maned 
male  presented  a  fair  target,  not  a  rifle  was  pointed  at 
him,  and  after  another  roar  he  walked  sedately  into 
the  bush. 

The  behaviour  of  the  impalla  was  contrary  to  all 
ideas  of  what  animals  would  do  under  the  circumstances, 
and  the  obvious  lesson  was  this :  Those  timid  gazelles 
knew  one  of  three  things,  or  perhaps  knew  all  of  them. 
The  fact  that  the  lion  was  roaring  may  have  been  a 
sign  of  truce,  it  maybe  was  proof  to  them  that  he  had 
already  made  his  kill  and  had  fed,  and  was  exulting 
over  his  perfect  digestion ;  they  may  have  recognised 
the  fact  that  he  was  not  hunting,  and  bore  them  person- 
ally no  ill-will  ;  or  that  seeing  him  in  broad  daylight, 
trusting  to  their  swiftness  of  foot,  that  they  could 
escape  at  any  time  if  he  made  a  move  in  their  direction. 
This  happened  between  seven  and  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  A  few  hours  later  the  light  would  have 
been  more  brilliant,  and  it  would  have  made  a  better 
picture,  but  there  it  is,  a  witness  to  this  story. 

The  day  before  we  left  the  water  holes,  we  secured 


PICTURE   L\ND  37 

a  movnnff  picture  of  no  fewer  lli;iii  twelve  ^iralTe.  Tt 
took  them  nearly  two  hours  to  eoine  down  to  the 
water,  but  no  sooner  were  they  there,  when  the  other 
animals,  perceivinji  them,  abandoned  all  their  own 
cautious  scoutiniji;  and  approaching,  and  came  I  airly 
galloping  down,  helter-skelter,  as  if  saying  to  themscKes: 
"The  giraffes  are  here,  boys  and  girls,  everything's 
safe.  Come  on."  'I'he  giraffe  has  probably  the 
keenest  eyesight  and  is,  moreover,  tiie  timitiest  oi  all 
living  creatures.  It  w^as  fascinating  to  see  them,  some 
reaching  to  the  height  of  twenty  feet  or  more,  feeding 
from  the  tops  of  the  trees,  and  then  when  they 
had  reached  the  water,  straddling  out  their  tore-legs 
awkwardly,  and  sucking  up  the  liquid  through 
their  hose  pipe  of  a  neck.  Kearton  ran  ott  all  the 
film  that  he  had  in  both  cameras  that  morning,  and 
probably  no  better  picture  of  giraffe  will  ever  be 
secured. 

Not  far  back  in  this  chapter,  I  threatened  to  put 
in  a  story  dealing  with  sensations.  Not  a  sensational 
story,  by  any  means,  mark  you,  but  as  the  feelings  and 
impulses  that  governed  me  u  ere  my  own  at  the  moment, 
perhaps  I  have  the  right  to  record  them. 

It  was  some  time  after  the  new  moon  w^as  grow- 
ing to  brilliancy,  and  our  friends  the  lions  seemed  to 
have  deserted  the  neighbourhood.  Their  voices  w^ere 
few  and  far  away,  which  was  conducive  to  rest,  and 
soothing  to  the  nerves.  I  had  started  out  one  morn- 
ing, taking  the  small  calibre  rifle,  much  with  the  same 
feeling  toward  it    that  a  suburban  householder  has  for 

6 


38  THROUGH   GEiNTRAL   AFRICA 

the  revolver  he  shps  under  his  pillow,  that  it  might 
be  useful  "in  case."  As  the  "case"  had  never  arrived, 
perhaps  1  had  grown  careless ;  on  this  occasion  I  had 
thoughtlessly  left  my  cartridge  belt  behind,  and  there 
were  but  two  shots  in  the  magazine.  Kearton  and 
Lydford  were  at  the  upper  water  hole,  and  I  had 
proceeded  hardly  a  lialf  mile  beyond  wlien  I  heard 
the  warning  bark  of  tlie  baboons. 

Looking  across  the  dried  river  bed  I  perceived 
that  every  man  jack  of  them  all,  ladies  and  children 
included,  were  up  the  trees,  and  plainly  quite  disturbed 
about  something.  It  was  an  opportunity  to  get  close 
to  them,  so  ploughing  through  the  heavy  sand,  I  reached 
the  farther  bank,  and  walked  over  towards  some  thorn 
trees  a  short  distance  ahead  of  me  ;  and  now  my  sen- 
sations began,  and  I  quite  envied  the  position  of  the 
baboons. 

From  very  close  to  there  came  a  challenging,  snarl- 
ing grunt,  followed  by  the  appearance  over  the  brow  of 
a  little  rise  of  ground,  about  sixty  or  eighty  yards  away, 
of  a  big  male  lion,  and,  almost  immediately,  a  lioness  ap- 
peared on  his  left,  while  a  third,  a  year  old  cub,  of  what 
sex  I  don't  know,  came  out  of  the  bushes  on  his  right. 
Whether  they  had  been  watching  me  or  not  I  am  un- 
certain, but  one  thing  I  am  sure  of  is  that  I  wished  I 
were  some  place  else.  The  lion,  making  a  very  dis- 
agreeable noise,  made  a  short  rush  in  my  direction  and 
then  stood  there,  continuing  the  noise.  The  lioness 
then  took  a  few  steps  and  laid  down  head  towards  me. 
The  cub  stood  at  the  top  of  the  hill  watching  me  over 


PICTURE   LAND  39 

his  shoulder.  Of  coiiisc,  it  1  had  hccn  looking  foi  an 
opportunity  lor  a  ^ood  "  ri^^ht  and  Icll.  "  hcic  it  was. 
I  had  two  carhid^ics,  and  the  tub  nii.ij.ht  ha\c  made 
oft.  but  then  a^ain  I  nii^ht  have  missed.  01  only 
woLuuled  one  ot  them,  and  then  what?  llavin*^  [)ut 
down  these  sujipositions,  I  must  honestly  eontess  that 
I  never  thought  of  shooting  at  all.  although  automat- 
ically 1  slid  oft  the  safety  catch  and  brought  my  rille 
up  to  the  ready. 

All  I  wanted  ol  those  lions  was  lor  them  to  go  away, 
peaceably  antl  cjuietly,  and  to  li\e  the  rest  ot  their  li\es 
in  health  and  plenty.  U  here  was  nothing  to  do  but 
stand  there.  If  1  had  retreated,  I  dare  say  they  would 
have  come  on.  1  had  not  the  comfort  of  believing  in 
"the  power  of  the  human  eye,"  and  although  1  had 
heard  that  "music  hath  charms,  etc.,"  1  had  no  ins- 
trimient  with  me,  and  do  not  think  I  could  have  struck 
up  a  note  if   1   had   possessed  the  voice   of  a   Mario. 

The  whole  aspect  of  the  peaceful  scene  seemed  to 
change.  It  was  no  longer  the  same  place  inhabited 
by  gentle  gazelle  and  timid  girafte.  I  seemed  to  have 
been  transported  miles  away  from  the  scene,  and  quite 
dominating  every  other  feeling  was  one  of  sell  accu- 
sation. I  acknowledged  to  myself  that  I  was  more 
kinds  of  an  adjective  fool  than  1  had  ever  acknow- 
ledged before.  In  the  first  place,  for  leaving  home  and 
being  there  at  all  ;  in  tlie  second,  for  not  having  filled 
my  magazine  and  having  left  my  cartridges  l)ehi nd  ; 
and  the  third  feeling  was  an  incipient  regret  that,  if 
anything    did     happen,     1     would     never     be     able     to 


40  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

tell  about  it,  or  offer  any  excuse  for  my  sudden 
and  peculiar  defection !  Tfiese  were  absolutely  my 
sensations.  I  shall  always  feel  grateful  to  that  year 
old  cub,  for  he  was  the  first  one  to  make  a  move. 
He  apparently  suddenly  lost  interest  in  the  state  of 
affairs,  and  slowly  walked  over  the  top  of  the  hill. 
The  male  seemed  tc  be  for  a  moment  undecided, 
and  then  he  trotted  oft  with  that  easy  loose-jointed 
way  of  all  great  cats.  The  lioness  for  a  time  remained 
where  she  was,  then  jumj^ing  up,  she  followed  him  out 
of  sight. 

From  the  bottom  of  my  heart,  I  wished  them  God- 
speed !  No  sooner  had  tliey  reached  the  other  side 
of  the  hill  than  they  put  up  a  terrible  row.  I  think  there 
were  others  there,  perhaps  there  was  a  troop  of  them, 
but  by  this  time  I  had  reached  the  other  bank.  I  had 
gone  but  a  little  way  back  towards  the  cave,  when  I 
met  old  Harmonica,  the  gun  bearer,  coming  down  at 
a  trot  with  the  express  rifle  and  my  cartridge  belt. 
Together  we  approached  the  hide-up,  where  Kearton 
and  Lydford,  who  had  heard  the  noise,  were  doing  a 
bit  of  wondering  as  to  what  part  I  had  in  it,  as  they 
knew  I  was  down  in  that  direction.  Kearton  tells  a 
story  of  my  trying  to  \\'histle  as  I  came  up.  It's  a 
good  story,  but  I  don't  remember  trying  to  do  any- 
thing so  rash.  We  armed  ourselves  and  went  after 
the  loud-voiced  ones,  but  they  had  moved  on. 

The  bird  life  of  the  country  is  not  exceedingly 
varied.  We  missed  the  brilliant-hued  warblers,  weaver 
birds,     hornbills    and     kingfisliers    that    we     had    seen 


PICTURE   LAND  41 

farther  to  the  south.  The  hirds  here  were  mostly 
dull  in  colour,  and  appeared  to  be  the  size  of  Enjjjlish 
sparrows.  There  were  many  varieties  of  shrikes  and 
hawks.  But  if  a  lover  of  shooting  had  been  there, 
for  two  hours  of  the  day  he  could  have  kept  his 
loader  busy,  and  his  gun  as  hot  as  he  ever  had  shoot- 
ing driven  grouse  from  the   butts. 

At  about  eight  in  the  morning  the  sand  grouse 
and  pigeon  began  to  arrive  by  the  thousand,  and  the 
same  thing  occurred  between  five  and  six  in  the 
evening.  Flying  low%  they  hurtled  past  our  heads  so 
close  that  we  could  almost  have  knocked  them  down 
with  sticks.  The  sound  of  their  wings  kept  up  a 
continuous  whistling  and  whirring.  They  seemed  to 
come  from  all  directions,  flock  following  flock;  after 
a  long  drink  and  a  moment's  pluming  of  their  feathers 
they  were  otif,  but  while  they  were  there,  which 
hardly  lasted  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  the  sand 
absolutely  seemed  to  be  moving  with  them.  The 
horned  guinea  fowl  lived  all  about  the  water  holes ; 
they  seldom  flew  unless  they  were  disturbed,  but 
trooped  down  to  the  water,  hundreds  and  hundreds  of 
them,  scuttling  back  to  the  bush  when  they  had 
quenched  their  thirst.  The  boys  caught  them  and 
the  pigeons  and  doves  by  scores  in  little  traps  of  cord 
and  twigs,  but  it  was  seldom  that  they  snared  a  sand 
grouse,  I  think  for  the  reason  that  these  birds  walk 
with  their  heads  very  upright. 

One  day  a  secretary  bird  came  to  visit  us  and 
stalked    round    on    his    stilted    exaggerated    legs  like    a 


42  THROUGH   GKNTRAL   AFRICA 

Hessian  Grenadier.  An  occasional  marabout  would 
walk  down  for  a  gulp  of  water,  standing  about  looking 
tor  all  the  world  like  a  character  from  "  Pickwick." 
We  caught  a  falcon  in  the  traps  one  day  and  it  grew 
quite  tame,  but  becoming  tired  of  our  society,  it 
sailed  off  one  fine  morning  and  never  came  back. 
Once  I  saw  some  geese  travelling  north,  heading  for 
the  Nile  perhaps,  from  their  haunts  in  the  Lorian 
Swamp,   far  to  the  south. 

There  were  plenty  of  snakes  of  various  kinds  near 
the  water  holes,  and  on  our  way  back  when  we 
stopped  at  the  first  oasis  we  found  four  varieties  up 
the  branches  of  one  single  tree;  three  of  these  snakes 
were  "beya,"  as  the  natives  called  them,  or  probably 
very  poisonous. 

Time  and  provisions  were  both  running  short,  and  it 
was  necessary  soon  to  get  back  to  sources  of  supplies, 
but  before  we  leave  the  Samburra  camp  there  is  a  little 
story  that  might  be  related  that  goes  to  show  that  the 
black  brother,  supposedly  so  simple  and  childish,  may 
possess  a  wily  mind,  and  be  capable  of  deceptions, 
that  prove  both  enterprising  and  inventive.  I  possessed 
a  Masai  "  syce,"  or  pony  boy,  w^ho  had  sole  charge 
oi  my  mule.  Kearton's  patient  animal  had  died,  pos- 
sibly from  a  broken  heart,  injured  back,  or  a  snake 
bite,  so  we  were  one  short.  I  had  taken  a  great  fancy 
to  my  particular  syce,  'or  he  was  intelligent,  and  pos- 
sessed a  sense  of  humour,  and  moreover  apparently 
understood  my  Swahili.  He  hatl  li\ed  in  his  earlier 
youth    close    to    the     Uashu     Neru,     and     understood 


GREETINGS    FROM    WONDEROBO 


ELLEN     THE    STRAY    CAMEL 


PICTURE    LAND  43 

enough  of  the  Sambiirra  tongue  to  act  as  interpreter 
in  our  dealings  with  the  local  chief,  and  with  any  other 
people  with  whom  we  wished  to  hold  communication. 

One  day,  there  had  drifted  into  our  camp  a  stray 
Randili  camel,  or  maybe  it  belonged  to  the  Boran, 
who  were  also  in  the  neighbourhood.  It  was  a  female 
camel,  and  bore  such  a  strong  resemblance  to  an 
aged  and  unmarried  domestic  who  had  once  been  in 
the  employ  of  an  aunt  of  mine  that  I  called  her 
*' Ellen."  Well,  Ellen  would  have  made  quite  an 
acquisition  to  our  forces.  She  could  forage  for  herself, 
drank  but  little,  and  could  carry  four  or  five  men's 
loads,  so  she  was  quite  welcome  to  stay  with  us, 
as  long  as  she  liked,  for  her  simple  board  and 
lodging. 

We  made  quite  a  pet  of  Ellen,  but  one  afternoon, 
when  we  were  all  in  camp  except  Lydford  and  the 
n'mpara,  who  had  gone  down  to  superintend  the  boys 
who  were  cleaning  out  one  of  the  wells,  my  syce, 
who  answered  to  the  name  of  Peto,  appeared  and 
informed  me  that  some  Boran  had  arrived  who  had 
lost  a  camel,  and  that  they  claimed  Ellen  as  their 
own.  I  asked  him  to  bring  the  Boran  up.  Four 
natives  carrying  spears  appeared,  and  the  following 
colloquy  took  place  : 

"Ask  them,  Peto,"  said  I,  "if  they  are  sure  it  is 
their  camel." 

He  turned  and  said  something  in  a  tongue  that  no 
one  but  himself  understood,  and  then  showing  his 
fine  white  teeth  in  a  charmingly  amiable  smile,  he  said : 


44  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

"N'dio,  bwana,  they  say  she  belongs  to  them.  See. 
she    lias    a    mark    on   her  leg  that  they  know." 

"Well,  then,  tell  them,  Peto,  if  she's  theirs  they 
can  have  her,"  1  said.  "  We  do  not  wish  to  keep  a 
camel  that  does  not  belong  to  us."  I  spoke,  1  recol- 
lect, with  all  the  manner  of  the  ''  honest  and  upright 
judge." 

It  seemed  to  me  he  took  a  long  time  saying  this; 
then  the  Boran  said  something  more  and  walked  of? 
with  Ellen.     That  was  all  there  was  to  it. 

Now,  what  do  you  suppose  that  open,  frank-faced 
rascal  was  doing  all  the  time?  We  found  out  later. 
They  were  not  Boran  at  all.  They  were  merely 
Samburra  from  the  neighbouring  kraal.  He  was  tell- 
ing them  that  we  wished  to  sell  the  camel,  and 
would  take  four  goats,  two  sheep  and  a  kid  for  it, 
if  they  wished  to  make  a  bargain,  which  they  grate- 
fully did.  But  we  saw  nothing  of  the  sheep,  goats, 
or  even  the  kid.  Peto  collected  them  by  instal- 
ments, and  he  and  his  boon  companions  held 
nocturnal  feasts  up  among  the  rocks,  while  we  were 
down  at  the  water  holes.  There's  enterprise  for 
you !  Peto  should  really  not  have  been  a  Masai  but 
a  Somali.  Not  content  with  this,  he  used  to  ride  my 
mule  up  to  the  Samburra  encampment,  and  indulge 
in  some  sort  of  native  gambling  game,  at  which  he 
was  probably  a  card  sharp.  He  was  caught  galloping 
the  mule  back  one  evening.  Ellen  was  found  at 
the  kraal,  the  story  came  out,  and  Peto  was  reduced 
to  the  ranks  as  a  porter.     Not    liking  this,  he  deserted 


PICTURi:   LAND  45 

when  we  ^ot  back  to  tlic  river,  siucccded  soiiulinw  in 
working  his  wav  hack  to  civilis  itioii,  and,  nndci  l)a(l 
advice,  had  the  temerity  to  sue  tor  his  wa^es  when  we 
returned  to  Nairohi.  Tliat  was  the  lirst  had  break  I'elo 
made.  The  case  went  against  hnn.  and  he  w.is 
sentenced  to  thirty  days'  imprisonment,  hom  which 
he  probably  emerged  sleek  and  lat  and  happ\.  1  am 
told  they  feed  the  natives  very  well  at  the  jail  ;  at  least, 
their  meals  are  regular,  which  is  more  than  can  be 
said  for  them  when  enjoying  their  freedom.  Let  us 
take   up  the   trail   once   more. 

With  our  precious  films  stowed  away  in  air-tight 
boxes,  we  packed  up  our  belongings,  and  marched 
southward  to  the   Uashu  Neru. 

The  river  was  no  longer  in  flood,  and  we  forded  it 
at  the  same  place  where  we  had  crossed  before  in  the 
pontoon,  taking  the  precaution  to  fire  a  few  shots  into 
the  water,  for  a  man-eating  crocodile  had  taken  a 
Somali  here  a  few  days  previously.  As  he  had  no 
money  on  his  person,  his  companions  had  soon  re- 
covered from  the  shock  of  his  loss  and  gone  on  their 
way.  A  big  black  lion  had  been  repeatedly  seen  here 
in  the  bush  by  the  natives,  and  in  company  with 
Claydon  we  went  on  a  hunt  tor  him,  as  some  of  our 
own  boys  had  reported  seeing  him  while  out  gather- 
ing wood.  He  had  disappeared  vvhen  we  got  there, 
but  a  few  weeks  later  Claydon  succeeded  in  finding 
him,  or,  better,  the  lion  found  Clavdon.  Being 
wounded,  the  beast  mauled  the  pooi  ciiap  so  severely 
that    at     first     hfe     was     despaired     of.       His    rifle     had 


46  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

jammed,  and  he  was  rescued  by  a  Somali  who  bravely 
came  up  close  and  fired  both  barrels  of  a  shot  gun 
into  the  lion's  body,  and  they  only  succeeded  in  get- 
ting him  to  the  hospital  just  in  time,  where  he  spent 
three  months  recovering.  After  a  two  days'  stay  at 
the  post  we  pressed  on  southward  for  Kenia,  heading 
for  Nyeri,  that  lies  but  a  six  days'  march  north  of 
Nairobi. 

Before  we  had  reached  the  slopes  where  the  wild 
olive  begins,  and  while  we  were  still  in  the  land  of 
the  acacia  and  euphorbia  trees,  we  had  the  good  fortune 
to  be  witnesses  to  a  little  drama  that  it  falls  to  the 
lot  of  but  few  ever  to  see.  And  at  very  close 
quarters,  not  more  than  fifteen  yards,  we  got  photo- 
graphs of  the  whole  thing. 

It  was  really  divided  into  three  acts  with  a  pro- 
logue, and   I  have  termed  it  a  "Drama  of  Greed." 

Before  the  safari  had  fairly  started  for  the  day's 
march  we  came  to  a  lion  kill,  a  Grevy  zebra,  not 
more  than  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  camp.  The 
animal  had  been  killed  the  evening  before  and  was 
but  partly  devoured,  down  the  flanks  scoring  the  skin 
were  the  claw  marks,  each  cut  plainly  discernible  and 
stretching  fully  an  inch  wider  than  the  extent  of  a  man's 
hand  between  thumb  and  little  finger.  It  was  evident 
that  the  animal  had  been  attacked  from  behind.  We 
frightened  away  two  or  three  hyenas  as  we  approached. 
Close  to  the  body  grew  a  large  thorn  bush.  It  required 
very  little  work  with  a  "panga" — the  heavy  knife  for 
cutting   through    the     undergrowth — to    clear    out    the 


THE    JACKAL     KKKFS    THE      BIRDS    AT     BAY 


THE    AFFKOACHING     VULTURES 
A    DRAMA     OF    GREED 


PICTURE   LAND  47 

middle  of  the  slirubbery.  It  made  an  ideal  liide-iij"), 
and  soon  we  were  enseoneed  within,  the  silent 
camera  in  place.  It  was  our  hope  that  perhaps  the 
hyenas,  or  Qvtn  the  lion,  nii^ht  return.  At  all  events, 
we  were  certain  to  ^et  ^ood  pictures  of  vultures  before 
the  morning  hatl  passed.  The  light  broadened  initil  it 
was  just  right  tor  photographic  work,  and  our  lirst 
visitor  appeared.  It  was  a  male  jackal,  a  very  large 
one,  and  in  the  pink  of  condition  So  close  were  we 
that  we  could  see  every  hair,  and  even  the  colour  of 
his  eyes.  For  a  time  he  had  it  all  to  himsell,  and 
then  a  big  vulture  with  a  stretch  of  seven  or  eight 
feet  dropped  down  out  of  the  sky.  Presently  others 
came,  until  there  were  a  score  or  more  of  them  sitting 
round  exactly  as  if  they  were  waiting  to  be  asked  to 
draw  up  and  pitch  in. 

Emboldened  at  last,  four  or  five  of  the  largest 
strutted  up  closer,  but  tfie  jackal  would  admit  of  no 
disturbance.  He  charged  at  them  and  drove  them 
back.  More  began  to  arrive  ;  they  came  out  of  the 
sky  from  all  directions,  but  the  plucky  little  jackal 
waded  into  them  like  a  constable  breaking  up  a 
crowd.  More  came,  and  soon  they  were  too  many  for 
him.  With  the  courage  of  numbers  they  fairly 
smothered  him,  beating  at  him  with  wing,  and  fight- 
ing with  claw  and  beak. 

There  is  an  old  saying  that  "A  hive  of  bees 
will  whip  a  bull."  To  stretch  the  simile  a  bit,  the 
bees  in  this  case  were  quite  as  large  as  their  antago- 
nist, who  at   last    gave  up  the  fight   and  beat  a  retreat. 


48  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

Still  they  came,  until  there  were  possibly  two  hundred 
of  them,  scrawny-necked,  bald-headed  cloud  fliers,  and 
smaller  ones  of  all  degrees.  Tliey  fought  and  scrambled, 
cackled  and  screamed,  amid  a  cloud  of  dust  and 
feathers.  Then  quickly  they  started  off,  many  of  the 
larger  hopping  some  length  along  the  ground,  rising 
with  difficulty  like   heavy  aeroplanes. 

To  our  surprise  we  heard  human  voices,  and  two 
almost  naked  Wanderobo  appeared.  They  looked  at 
what  the  birds  had  left — and  even  in  that  short  time 
there  was  mighty  little  of  it— and  began  to  pick  up 
the  scattered  feathers,  talking  and  laughing  all  the 
time,  unconscious  that  their  every  movement  was 
being  recorded  on  the  film.  They  came  so  close 
that  we  could  not  understand  how  they  missed  see- 
ing us  in  the  bush,  for  actually  at  one  time  the  taller 
of  the  two  savages  was  within  eight  feet  of  the  camera. 
A  whisper  and  a  nod  passed  between  us,  and  Lydford 
fired  his  rifle  up  into  the  air.  The  Wanderobo  were 
nonplussed.  Where  had  the  shot  come  from?  They 
gathered  together  whispering,  looking  round  in  every 
direction,  for  they  had  never' located  the  sound. 

Even  a  second  shot  failed  to  give  them  the  informa- 
tion of  our  hiding-place,  but  the  third,  fired  when 
they  were  within  five  or  six  feet,  started  them.  With 
a  wild  howl  they  fled,  and  so  far  as  we  know  they 
are  running  yet. 

We  packed  up  our  things  and  left.  The  porters 
were  far  ahead  of  us,  and  it  was  over  two  hours  before 
we  caught  up  with  them. 


PICTURE   LAND  49 

This  day  we  heard  a  lion  roaring  at  noon,  a  rather 
unusual  occurrence.  Once  we  just  caught  a  glimpse 
of  two  big  males  making  off  from  the  water  toward 
the   hillside. 

Mack,  our  dog,  was  a  long  way  ahead,  and  took 
after  them;  he  soon  returned,  however,  looking  a  hit 
foolisli,  but  endeavouring  to  impress  us  that  he  liad  made 
a  mistake,  and  it  was  all  imagination — there  were  no  lions 
there  at  all.  Even  when  we  pointed  out  their  very 
fresh  tracks,  neither  he  nor  Lady  displayed  the  slightest 
interest. 

By  the  evening  we  reached  the  foot-hills. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    MARCH    PAST    KENIA 

AT  the  water  holes,  the  barometer  had  shown  that 
we  were  but  1,060  teet  above  the  sea  level. 
Now  we  were  constantly  ascending  and  on  August 
2nd  we  had  reached  the  altitude  of  5,280  feet 
and  the  temperature  was  delightful,  the  thermo- 
meter registering  78°  at  eleven  o'clock  as  against 
120°  in  the  hide-ups.  Our  camp  was  pitched  amidst 
the  grandest  trees  that  we  had  yet  seen,  immense 
thorns,  some  five  feet  and  more  in  diameter,  growing 
on  the  banks  of  a  clear  stream.  The  whole  country 
had  a  well  kept  appearance,  like  a  gentleman's  park, 
the  tall  lush  grass  was  almost  waist  high  in  the 
meadows,  and  there  were  spaces  smooth  as  lawns.  Kenia 
was  growing  clearer  and  clearer,  the  immense  glacier 
shining  in  the  sun  with  the  shadows  of  the  pinnacles 
slanting  across  it.  We  were  nearing  the  Equator,  but 
the  nights  were  very  cold.  Kearton,  while  out  with 
old  Harmonica  and  a  few  porters  late  in  the  even- 
ing, saw  five  lions  down  in  a  little  hollow  gathered 
about  a  recent  kill,  and  sent  word  back  to  the  camp. 
Lydford  and  I  ran  out  to  him,  with  the  two  gun- 
bearers    and    the    rifles,    and    we  went    after   them,    but 

50 


THE    MARCH   PAST   KENIA  51 

as  in  all  our  lion  luiiitiii^  so  tar,  w  c  a^aiii  drew 
a  blank.  They  disappeared  into  tlic  tall  i^rass  like 
snakes. 

Earlier  in  the  day,  we  had  found  a  man's  skull 
and  some  human  bones  beside  the  trail,  and  when  we 
reached  Nyeri  were  told  that  no  fewer  than  live  Mciu 
natives  had  been  killed  by  lions  in  that  viciuitv  within 
the  previous  month.  There  was  a  boy  in  the  doctor's 
hands  there  severely  mauled.  Possibly  the  man-eaters 
were  among  the  lot  that  Kearton  saw  that  evening. 
In  the  next  few  days,  we  were  skirting  the  forest,  and 
well  could  I  imagine  that  I  was  in  the  woods  of 
New  Brunswick  or  Nova  Scotia.  Moss-grown  larches 
and  cedars  had  taken  the  place  of  palm  and  thorn 
trees.  Dashing  brown  trout  streams  tumbled  down  the 
steep  gorges.  Buffalo  spoor  was  everywhere.  We  were 
proceeding  along  the  trail  that  leads  from  Meru  to 
Nyeri  when  we  made  a  strange  discovery,  and  ran 
across  the  record  of  a  most  unusual  and  tragic 
episode.  The  accompanying  photograph  shows  plainly 
what  had  happened.  This  great  rock,  rising  some 
seventy  feet,  had  stood  there  since  the  glacial  period. 
Under  its  bulging  and  overhanging  front,  the  natives 
of  the  neighbourhood  had  found  shelter  times  in- 
numerable. 

Now,  just  three  days  before  we  came  to  this  spot, 
a  Meru  caravan,  trading  through  their  own  country, 
had  reached  here  as  night  overtook  them,  and  crawl- 
ing under  the  rock  that  must  have  extended  some 
fifteen  or  eigfiteen  feet,  had  lit  great  lircs  to  keep  them- 


52  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

selves  warm,  for  shortly  after  sunset  the  temperature 
lowers  very  suddenly  ;  in  the  early  morning  it  is 
often  only  42°.  The  fierce  sun  of  noonday  had  beaten 
on  the  great  stone  until  it  had  probably  been  heated 
like  a  biscuit  in  an  oven.  Then  as  the  temperature 
fell  there  had  come  an  icy  rain.  The  fires  the  natives 
built  had  kept  up  the  heat  underneath,  and  in  a  little 
fissure  that  we  could  easily  trace  water  must  have 
gathered.  At  all  events,  without  a  word  of  vvaining, 
the  huge  slab,  60  feet  high,  70  feet  long,  and  18  feet 
thick  by  actual  measurement,  had  fallen  down  upon 
them,  leaving  a  clean  straight  line  of  cleavage.  Eighteen 
men  and  nine  women  were  crushed  to  death  in  a  frac- 
tion of  a  second.  Their  bodies,  at  least  most  of  them 
that  were  farther  in,  were  ground  deep  into  the  earth, 
safer  from  possible  disturbance  than  any  royal  Cheops 
in  his  pyramid.  The  numbers  of  those  thus  crushed  to 
death  and  entombed  we  learned  from  the  three  survi- 
vors whom  we  met  the  day  afterwards.  We  could  see 
the  place  where  the  men  who  escaped  had  been  sleep- 
ing, just  outside  of  the  perimeter  of  the  fallen  mass 
of  stone.  The  hyenas  had  already  been  at  their  ghastly 
work  and  had  dug  out  two  or  three  of  the  bodies 
on  the  edge,  and  the  evidence  that  there  were  more 
still  half  exposed  was  plain  to  the  senses.  Scattered 
all  round  were  blankets,  spears,  and  bows  and  arrows, 
and  over  two  hundred  pounds  of  native  tobacco  neatly 
wrapped  in  banana  leaves  lay  on  the  ground.  Although 
it  might  hav^e  been  considered  a  windfall  for  the  natives, 
not  a  boy  of    our  safari  could    be    persuaded   to  touch 


THE    MARCH    PAST   KENIA  53 

a  single  thing.  It  was  difiicult  indeed  to  get  them 
to  approach  the  phice,  and  tiie  three  survivors  asserted 
that  they  would  never  go  near  the  neighhourhood 
again.  Both  the  Kikuyu  and  the  Meru  consider  that 
the  person  or  belongings  of  a  dead  man  are  "taboo." 
If  there  is  a  death  in  a  village  the  people  move  away, 
tearing  holes  in  the  hut  where  the  body  lies,  so  that 
the  hyenas  can  easily  get  at  it.  Not  until  it  is  thus 
removed  will  they  return,  when  everything  belonging 
to  the  dead  is  burnt. 

Not  feeling  any  of  this  superstition  ourselves  we 
gathered  up  some  handsome  bow^s  and  spears  and 
trinkets,  and  so  far  have  suffered  no  evil  effects  from 
their  possession.  This  discovery  was  made  on  Monday, 
August  4th,  the  day  that  the  Mohammedan  Lent  or 
Ramadan  begins.  Mysterious  and  w^onderful  are  the 
contents  of  an  African's  ditty  bag.  We  discovered 
that  beside  Juma  and  the  n^mpara  both  our  gun- 
bearers  and  four  of  the  porters  were  devout  Moham- 
medans. As  the  new  moon  rose  they  appeared  clad 
in  immaculate  white,  and  stood  there  muttering  prayers 
and  slowdy  genuflecting.  Where  they  had  kept  those 
white  garments  I  do  not  know,  but  I  shall  never  forget 
the  sight  of  the  huge  figure  of  our  head  man  in  a  white 
worsted  sweater  and  flannel  tennis  trousers  standing 
there  in  the  faint  moonlight.  It  is  said  that  Ramadan 
is  a  time  of  fasting,  but,  so  far  as  could  be  detected, 
the  Mohammedans  ate  as  much  as  anyone  else,  at  least 
they  drew  their  full  rations.  A  day  or  two  later  I  find 
this  entry  in  my  diary: 


54  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

"Three  more  days'  marching  and  we  will  be  in 
Nyeri.     Ho!   for  fresh  eggs  and  milk!  " 

It  was  time  that  we  had  reached  some  place  where 
we  could  replenish  our  supplies,  for  the  very  day  that 
we  got  there  we  finished  our  last  pound  of  tea,  the 
sugar  had  run  out,  and  we  were  on  the  last  tin  of  jam. 

Nyeri  is  a  very  beautiful  Government  post  where 
everything  is  as  neat  as  a  new  pin,  and  although  there 
are  only  fifteen  white  residents  all  told,  including  three 
women,  wives  of  officials,  there  are  flower  gardens 
and  tennis  courts  and  a  very  well  laid  out  golf  links. 
Thus  does  the  Englishman  make  a  place  to  follow  his 
home  pursuits  and  customs.  Geographical  position 
counts  for  nothing.  Here  is  the  spot,  here  is  a  ball, 
let's  toss  or  roll,   kick,   knock  or  bowl  it ! 

A  few  years  before,  it  would  have  taken  us  six  days 
to  get  into  Nairobi,  for  the  distance  is  103  miles.  We 
did  it  in  less  than  ten  hours  over  a  good  Government 
road  in  an  automobile.     The  safari  followed  on  foot. 

Our  gun-bearers  and  the  cook,  carrying  no  loads, 
walked  in  in  three  days,  which  quick  going  averaged 
over  thirty  miles  a  day. 

It  seemed  quite  exciting  to  be  in  a  town  again, 
with  the  streets  filled  with  automobiles,  motor  cycles, 
and  tooting  trains  going  by  on  the  track  before  the 
hotel  verandah,  but,  above  all,  it  was  good  to  get  fresh 
eggs  and  vegetables,  and  to  see  the  newspapers  and 
read  our  accumulated  letters.  Nairobi  was  much  dis- 
turbed over  the  presence  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
plague  of  meningitis  that  was  sweeping  ofT  the  natives, 


THE    MARCH   PAST   KENIA  55 

principally  the  Kikuyii'>  and  tlie  Wakambas,  by  tliousands. 
It  had  also  attacked  the  whites,  and  there  were  a 
number  of  cases  being  taken  care  of  in  the  town.  The 
Government  native  hospitals  were  full  to  overflowing. 
Although  not  much  was  said  about  it  in  the  home 
papers,  a  man  who  should  be  weli  informetl  told  me 
that  probably  forty  thousand  of  the  black  population 
had  perished  in  seven  months.  I  have  seen  no  Govern- 
ment statistics  on  the  subject  and  only  give  this  for 
what  it  is  worth. 

Africa  is  a  land  of  peculiar  and  mysterious  maladies  that 
assail  both  man  and  domestic  animals.  Even  the  game 
is  not  proof  against  them,  as  mark  the  mortality  among 
the  great  herds  of  buflfalo  when  the  rinderpest  was  rife. 

We  paid  ofT  our  safari  as  soon  as  the  men  arrived, 
and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  they  left  us  happy  and 
contented,  but  I  regret  also  to  record  that  beside  the 
deserters  who  had  run,  when  it  was  still  safe  for  them 
to  do  so,  w^e  were  short  of  three  men.  Why  the  head 
man  had  not  reported  their  absence  before,  I  cannot 
tell,  nor  the  dates  and  places  w^hen  it  was  first  dis- 
covered they  were  missing.  No  one  had  gained  any 
flesh  on  the  journey.  Kearton  had  lost  twenty-four 
pounds  and  I  seventeen.  Six  days  were  sufficient  to 
feed  me  up  on  town  life,  and,  an  opportunity  coming, 
I  embraced  the  chance  to  go  out  on  safari  again, 
the  reason  being  that  I  met  "  Fritz,"  a  most  remark- 
able character,  known  to  everyone  who  had  lived  in 
or  visited  Nairobi  during  the  past  eight  years,  and  of 
him,  as  the  old  writers  used  to  say,   "more   anon." 


CHAPTER    V 

THE    WELL-KNOWN    HUNTING-GROUNDS 

THE  next  five  weeks  were  spent  in  efforts  to 
obtain  photographs  on  the  well-known  hunting- 
grounds  within  a  few  days  safari  from  Nairobi.  Hunting- 
grounds  that  will  soon  disappear  before  the  encroaching 
farms,  the  coffee  and  sizel  plantations,  and  the  armed 
march  against  poor  helpless  nature  which  civilisation 
always  entails.  When  the  fences  go  up  and  the  cattle 
arrive  wild  game  has  had  its  day.  Of  course,  on  the 
reserves,  they  may  exist  for  a  half  century  to  come. 
Look  at  South  Africa  as  we  find  it  now.  Within  the 
memory  of  men  not  yet  old,  it  teemed  with  species  of 
antelope  and  gazelle  now  almost  extinct.  When  I  was 
there  during  the  Boer  War  in  1900-1901,  every  Boer 
farm-house  was  a  museum  of  skulls  and  horns,  but  the 
living  representatives  had  already  passed  away.  Let 
East  Africa  take  a  lesson  and  a  warning.  Before  it 
was  discovered  that  good  coffee  could  be  raised  in 
paying  quantities  (and  this  industry  is  as  yet  in  a  more 
or  less  experimental  state,  although  its  success  seems 
well  assured),  game  was  her  greatest  asset.  It  brought 
the  men  with  money  there.  It  gave  thousands  of 
natives  employment,  and  kept  many  commercial  enter- 
prises on  their  feet.       In    one  month    a  very  big   safari 

56 


WELLKNOWN    HUNTING-GROUNDS      57 

spent  more  money  than  twenty  well-to-do  taniilics  would 
in  the  same  space  of  time.  It  is  possible  to  go  to  Nairobi 
now  with  a  hand-bag  and  obtain  an  outfit  as  complete 
in  every  detail  as  if  the  sporting  tourist  were  in  London. 

Both  the  Photographer  and  the  Scribe  wished  very 
much  to  visit  and  spend  some  time  in  the  southern 
game  reserve  that  extends  almost  to  the  town  limits  of 
Nairobi.  The  Belgian  Government  and  the  French 
Government,  upon  being  informed  of  our  intended  visit 
to  their  colonial  possessions,  had  extended  every  courtesy 
in  their  power,  and  had  offered  to  the  expedition 
every  facility  and  every  help,  and  I  cannot  put  down 
what  I  am  going  to  write  without  a  smile.  Oh!  great 
is  the  province  of  British  red  tape  !  and  quite  amusing 
is  the  rule  of  small  officialdom.  We  applied  to  the 
held  game  ranger  for  a  permit,  not  to  shoot,  mind  vou, 
for  that  was  not  our  object.  We  simply  requested 
permission  to  enter  the  supposedly  forbidden  country, 
spend  a  few  days  and  return.  The  head  game  ranger, 
who  was  most  interested  and  amicable,  referred  the 
matter  to  the  Government  House,  and,  to  our  aston- 
ishment, the  authorities  declined  to  grant  it,  on  the 
ground  that  "a  precedent  would  be  established."  We 
had  ofifered  to  go  in  without  arms,  trusting  to  a  few 
native  spearmen  for  any  necessary  protection,  but  it 
made  no  difference.  We  could  not  go.  We  were 
absolutely  denied  ! 

Now,  this  w^ould  have  been  all  right,  and  there 
would  have  been  no  demurring  at  officialdom's  de- 
cision,   but    on    this    same    reserve     there    was    being 


58  THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

Iniilt  a  railway  that  made  a  junction  with  the  Uganda 
road  and  extended  south-west  to  the  great  Magadi 
soda  lake.  A  pipe  line  which  supplied  the  spur  road 
with  W'ater  was  also  being  constructed,  and  Fritz 
Schindler,  to  whotn  I  referred  in  the  previous  chapter, 
had  charge  of  the  transport  on  the  pipe  line,  so  1  en- 
gaged my  services  to  him  as  consulting  engineer  at 
four  rupees  a  month  (surely  a  man  has  a  right  to 
Hx  his  own  salary)  and  repaired  to  the  game  ranger's 
office. 

"Well,"  said  the  latter,  when  I  had  announced 
my    new  position.      "You    can't   be   stopped    now." 

And  that's  how  we  circumvented  red  tape  !  As 
consulting  engineer,  I  could  have  taken  in  as  many 
assistants  as  I  liked,  and  there  were  forty-two  white 
employees  on  the  pipe  line  and  railway,  who  were 
allowed  to  take  rifles,  and  they  had  the  privilege  of 
shooting  certain  kinds  of  game  within  a  zone  of  li\e 
miles  on  either  side  of  their  respective  fields  of  labour, 
and  great  slaughter  they  were  making  of  it.  I  know 
that  from  personal  observation.  Yet  an  innocent  and 
harmless  photographic  expedition  was  denied  entry, 
for  fear  "  it  w^ould  establish  a  precedent."  However, 
it  turned  out  that  the  portions  of  the  game  reserve 
visited  would  have  been  very  disappointing,  whether 
it  was  owing  to  the  privileged  shooting,  or  the  veldt 
fires  that  were  raging,  is  a  question.  At  all  events, 
the  vast  herds  of  game  were  not  to  be  seen,  but  I 
visited  one  of  the  most  remarkable  sights  of  the  world, 
the   Magadi  lake  of    solid  soda,  seven  miles  long  and 


WELL-KNOWN    HUNTING-GROUNDS      59 

nearly  two  miles  wide.  It  is  a  place  where  I  would 
not  have  worked  for  a  thousand  jiounds  a  month, 
and  the  labour  question  will  be  a  bi^  one  lor  the 
company  to  tackle.  Imagine  this  great  glaring  sheet 
of  white  crystals  shimmering  under  a  torrid  sun, 
and  a  constant  miasma  rising  from  it,  that  reminded 
me  onl}^  of  the  chemical  laboratory  of  my  c(^llege 
days  and  the  smell  of  CH.JO4.  There  is  soda  enough 
there  to  supply  the  world  for  iiv-e  hundred  years. 
There  is  not  space  here  to  go  into  a  description  of 
the  lake,  but  I  should  advise  all  visitors  to  East 
Africa  to  go,  smell  it,  and  see  it,  as  it  certainly  ranks 
with  the  world's  great  natural  wonders. 

On  returning  to  Nairobi,  Kearton  and  I  deter- 
mined to  go  out  to  the  edge  of  the  Kumiti  swamp, 
where  there  was  an  opportunity,  so  we  were  in- 
formed, to  get  photographs  of  buffalo.  It  was  only 
twenty-one  miles  to  the  eastward  of  the  town,  and 
Mr.  John  Boyes,  who  owned  a  large  farm  in  that 
direction,  had  offered  us  the  use  of  a  commodious 
tin  house,  so  we  took  no  tents,  and  gathering  a  party 
of  twelve  or  fifteen  boys,  which  included  gun-bearers 
and  personal  servants,  we  departed  by  automobile, 
the  safari  going  on  foot,  and  we  expected  to  be  snugly 
ensconced  by  evening. 

Nairobi,  like  all  new  to\vns  and  new  countries,  was 
full  of  strange  characters,  and  perhaps  none  was  more 
justly  celebrated  than  Mr.  John  Boyes,  "the  White 
King  of  the  Kikuyus."  He  has  written  a  book  about 
himself,   and    his  adventurous    career,   and   some   critics 


6o  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

have  been  unkind  enough  to  say  that  he  did  not  tell 
a  hall  of  what  he  might  have  told.  Whether  this 
came  from  natural  secretiveness,  or  from  modesty,  1 
am  not  prepared  to  state,  but  Mr.  Boyes  did  not  tell 
half  what  he  could  about  that  house.  In  the  first 
place,  he  did  not  tell  us  that  it  was  inhabited,  but 
it  most  certainly  was,  and  the  occupants  did  not  in- 
tend to  leave  without  making  a  fight  for  it,  and  a 
means  to  oust  them  was  beyond  our  power.  That 
tin  house  was  very  neat  and  prepossessing  as  we  viewed 
it  from  a  distance,  but  it  was  not  a  house  at  all  in  the 
proper  sense  of  the  word.  It  was  one  huge  bee-hive! 
The  African  bee  must  have  very  little  space  in  which 
to  carry  honey,  for  he  seems  to  be  nothing  but  one 
big  sting  with  a  wing  on  either  side  of  it.  No  one 
could  approach  within  a  hundred  yards  of  Mr.  Boyes's 
apiary,  without  being  aware  that  he  was  treading  on 
very  dangerous  ground.  Within  twenty  yards  of  the 
door  lay  a  dead  mule  that  had  incautiously  gone  too 
near,  and  had  been  stung  to  death  in  no  time.  We 
decided  that  was  warning  enough,  and  spent  the  night 
in  a  cotton  shelter  tent  that  a  neighbouring  farmer  had 
erected  for  the  use  of  some  Indian  fuiidis  who  were 
building  a  dipping  tank. 

We  returned  to  town  for  our  own  shelters  the 
following  day,  and  started  out  again  with  a  wagon 
and  ox  team.  The  "  King  of  the  Kikuyus,"  when 
informed  of  the  state  of  affairs,  replied  in  broad 
Yorkshire:  "Aye,  the  bees,  I  forgot  to  tell  you 
about    them   bees."     He    then    offered     suggestions    as 


-*g---^iacgg^>....m 


THOMSONS    GAZELLE 


ON     THE    TREK     WITH    OXEN 


WELL-KNOWN    HUNTING-GROUNDS      6t 

to  how  they  might  he  smoked  out,  hut  \vc  (hd  uot 
take  on  the  contract,  and  made  our  caiiii")  down  hy 
the  river  bank. 

This  herd  of  buffalo  that  we  were  after  in  the 
papyrus  swamp  on  the  Kumiti  was  renowned,  and 
justly  so.  An  epic  might  be  written  about  these 
particular  "  buffs."  They  had  been  shot  at  and 
chivied  about  so  much  that  each  single  member  has 
developed  the  testiness  of  an  Andalusian  bull  in  the 
arena,  and  they  are  animated  as  a  whole  by  all  the 
charging  and  fighting  spirit  of  the  Light  Brigade. 
Colonel  Roosevelt  once  had  an  adventure  with  this 
pack  of  bovine  fiends  that  nearly  put  him  out  of 
the  running  for  any  position,  except  for  one  under 
a  monument,  and  he  tells  about  it  in  his  book. 
We  had  been  warned  of  all  this  beforehand,  so  we 
were  prepared  for  anything,  but  at  the  end  of  con- 
siderable experience  we  reached  the  conclusion  that 
the  proper  way  to  approach  them  would  be  in  an 
armoured  train  with  a  battery  of  gatlings.  The  herd, 
numbering  perhaps  one  hundred  and  twenty  or 
more,  did  not  wait  to  be  driven  out  or  called  out. 
They  came  of  their  own  accord,  and  generally  they 
all  came  together  !  Even  the  natives  gave  the  swamp 
a  wide  berth.  A  black  teamster  driving  a  buck 
wagon  and  eighteen  oxen  had  gone  too  near  only 
a  short  time  before  we  decided  to  see  what  we 
could  do,  and  the  herd  had  signified  their  desire  for 
seclusion  by  coming  out  en  masse,  killing  five  of 
the    oxen,    and    the    voorlooper    or    leading    boy,    and 


62  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

smashing  up  the  wagon  in  such  fashion  that  it  was 
quite  useless  to  attempt  to  do  anything  with  it.  To 
go  down  there  and  ask  them  to  sit  for  their  pictures 
was  utter  foolishness.  Our  cameras  were  very  valuable 
and  we  still  had  some  use  for  our  remaining  years. 
Attempts  had  been  made  to  photograph  them,  but 
so  far,  unsuccessfully.  Kearton  had  tried  it  a  year 
or    two   before,    and    had    given  it    up. 

A  brilliant  idea  occurred  to  us,  and  after  talking 
it  over  we  determined  to  put  it  into  execution.  It 
was  not  the  armoured  train,  but  it  w^as  somewhat 
like  it.  Nothing  less  than  taking  down  a  big  sheet- 
iron  water-tank,  and  sinking  it  on  the  edge  of  the 
swamp,  hiding  it  in  the  papyrus,  and  filling  it  full 
of  earth  and  stones,  and  then  getting  on  top.  After 
some  search,  we  found  the  very  thing  we  were 
looking  for,  a  big  tank,  ten  feet  high,  with  a  dia- 
meter of  about  six  feet.  Of  course,  we  would  have 
to  choose  the  proper  time  for  putting  it  in  position, 
an  hour  when  the  buffalo  were  elsewhere  than  in 
the  vicinity  of  our  engineering  efforts.  It  was  the 
intention  to  sink  the  tank  two  or  three  feet  in  the 
ground,  and  we  figured  that  when  full  of  earth  and 
stones  it  would  weigh  about  ten  tons.  So  far,  so 
good.  We  brought  the  tank  down  in  an  ox  wagon, 
and  then  carefully  scouted  the  swamp  from  a  dis- 
tance in  order  to  get  the  proper  bearings  and  position 
of  the  enemy's  forces. 

It  was  easy  to  do  this  if  the  buffalo  were  mov- 
ing.     They    never  straggled,  but    held  closely  together 


WELL-KNOWN   HUNTING-GROUNDS      63 

in  a  compact  mass,  and  above  them,  constantly 
hovered  and  fluttered  their  close  companions,  the 
cow  herons,  those  beautilul  white  birds  who  feed 
on  the  ticks  that  infest  the  buffalo's  tough  hide. 
We  had  chosen  the  proi)er  place  to  erect  our  safety 
tower,  and  one  of  our  black  scouts  had  reported  that 
the  herd  was  up  in  the  end  of  the  swamp  some  three 
or  four  miles  away.  All  was  safe,  apparently,  so  we 
proceeded  with  the  ox  cart,  followed  by  a  lot  of  boys 
with  picks  and  spades.  Our  party  had  been  augmented 
by  two  white  volunteers,  the  farmer  on  w  Ikjsc  jilace 
we  had  pitched  our  camp,  and  a  missionary  who  was 
travelling  through  the  country.  In  all,  we  coiuited 
five  rifles — quite  a  formidable  force.  As  the  wagon 
thumped  and  bumped  along  over  the  rough,  uneven 
ground,  the  big  tank  boomed  and  banged  like  a  hun- 
dred bass  drums.  It  could  have  been  heard  a  mile  I 
Slowly  we  approached  the  spot  where  we  planned  to 
get  to  work,  and  all  was  merry  and  bright.  We  were 
going  down  a  slight  incline,  and  were  about  two  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  edge  of  the  swamp,  when  suddenly 
a  flock  of  white  birds  fluttered  up  from  directly  in  front 
of  us,  and  at  the  same  instant — the  beasts  had  probably 
been  waiting  for  us — there  stepped  into  view  the  whole 
array;  over  a  hundred  of  them!  There  they  stood, 
their  ugly  black  muzzles  stretched  out  at  us,  and  the 
great  horns  laid   back  against  the  massive  shoulders. 

Kearton  jumped  for  the  camera  and  climbed  on  up 
the  wagon.  The  rest  of  us  nervously  fingered  our 
rifles.      "  Good-bye,    wagon,"    said    the    farmer,     "  we 


64  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

are  in  for  it  now,"  and  he  began  cuttinjjj  the  oxen 
loose  with  his  knife,  not  stopping  to  unyoke  them. 
The  driv^ers  made  shift  to  assist  him.  The  digging 
party  seemed  uncertain  as  to  what  course  to  follow, 
and  some  of  them  crawled  in  between  the  wheels. 
All  this  time,  the  black  beasts  had  stood  there  abso- 
lutely motionless,  and  then  a  bull  with  magnificent  horns 
came  forward  a  few  steps.  It  looked  as  if  they  were 
coming.  Kearton  had  got  the  moving  picture  machine 
working  by  this  time,  and  then  quickly  something 
happened!  A  cow  and  a  young  bull  that  were  on  the 
extreme  left  flank  of  the  phalanx  suddenly  took  alarm, 
and  turned,  heaving  their  awkward  and  unwieldy 
bodies  down  the  front  of  the  line.  In  an  instant  the 
wdiole  lot  turned  with  them,  and  wheeled  to  the 
right,  and  with  the  cow  herons  fluttering  above  them 
in  a  white  cloud,  they  followed  the  line  of  the 
swamp  for  some  distance  and  then  plunged  into  the 
papyrus.  Much  relieved,  we  watched  their  course 
for  a  few  minutes,  and  judged  that  when  they 
stopped  they  had  probably  covered  two  miles  or  more, 
so    wc    went    down    and    put    the    tank    in    position. 

On  the  top  of  that  tank  we  passed  many  weary 
waiting  hours,  but  when  the  buffalo  were  around  it 
w^e  could  not  go  down  and  get  on  top,  and  when  we 
were  there  first  they  seemed  to  give  the  place  a  wide 
berth.  After  all  our  preparation,  we  succeeded  in 
getting  but  two  pictures  of  buffalo,  although  w^e  got 
many  of  other  animals  that  lived  in  the  swamp. 
Quite    close    to    it,    the    Scribe    was    lucky    enough    to 


K,f^r:-^:-mW'  In^^^^^A 


^0 


^ 


A    HALT    IN  SCANTY    SHADE 


COKE'S     HARTEBKKSTE    DRINKING 


WELL-KNOWN    HUN TLNG-GROUNDS      65 

get  a  lioness  one  day  while  walking  along  ilic  edge 
of  the  swamp.  Not  with  the  camera  nnlortimately, 
but  with  the  rifle.  We  had  another  and  jierhajis 
a  better  hiding  place  farther  down  the  stream, 
where  we  secured  some  very  beautiful  pictures  of 
hartebeest,   wildebeeste,  gazelle,  and  wild  ostriches. 

Having  done  our  best  with  the  buffalo,  and  secured 
some  results,  although  not  what  we  had  hoped  for, 
it  was  determined  to  move  on  past  Donaysapuk,  down 
the  Athi  river,  and  thence  to  cross  to  the  uplands 
between  the  Thika  and  the  Tana,  a  favourite  place 
for  rhino  and  lion,  and  there  was  also  a  chance  of 
getting  eland  and  roan  antelope.  Our  party  had  now 
been  joined  by  Fritz,  who  had  given  up  his  position 
on  the  Magadi  road,  and  gone  back  to  his  former 
occupation,  which  was,  as  we  soon  discovered,  princi- 
pally that  of  risking  his  life.  Poor  Fritz,  he  did  it 
once  too  often.  After  having  assisted  in  the  death 
of  perhaps  sixty  lions,  he  was  fatally  mauled  by  one 
in  January,   1914. 

An  old  hunter  once  observed  to  me  :  "Yes,  it's 
a  good  life,  but  keep  after  lion  and  elephant  long 
enough,  and  one  of  them  will  get  you  sooner  or 
later."  In  the  bleak  walled  cemetery  at  Nairobi 
there  are  ten  or  twelve  graves  of  men  who  didn't 
quit  soon  enough,  the  lion  (and  in  every  case,  so 
far  as  I  could  ascertain,  a  wounded  one)  being 
responsible   for  the  wording  of  the  epitaphs. 

While  we  are  on  the  subject  of  lions  it  might  be 
well  to  gather  in  a  few  words   the    result  of    our    own 


66  THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

experience  and  other  people's  opinion  on  the  subject. 
There  are  two  ways  to  exterminate  the  Hon  of  British 
East  Africa — and  let  us  grant  at  the  start  that  from  the 
settlers'  and  farmers'  point  of  view  the  wiping  out  of 
both  the  lion  and  the  leopard  would  be  a  good  thing; 
it  would  enable  the  herds  of  cattle,  sheep  and  goats 
to  feed  at  night ;  it  would  do  away  with  the  semi- 
cruelty  of  tying  trek  oxen  to  a  long  chain  and  making 
them  fast  to  a  wagon  every  evening  when  on  the  march. 
The  poor  trek  ox  when  at  work  has  his  feeding  hours 
cruelly  curtailed.  The  native  herders,  the  most  suc- 
cessful of  whom  are  the  Masai,  would  no  longer  have 
to  gather  their  cattle  into  closely  packed  kraals. 

I  have  said  that  there  are  two  absolutely  sure 
methods — and  they  are  poison  and  dogs.  We  were  in 
good  lion  country  for  nearly  six  months,  and  during 
that  time  Kearton  and  I  together  saw  twelve  lions. 
We  got  photographs  of  two,  and  I  shot  a  lion 
and  a  lioness.  But  mind  you,  we  were  looking  for 
them,  searching  for  them  a  great  part  of  the  time. 
When  an  armed  tourist  goes  out  without  dogs  for  a 
month,  or  sometimes  only  half  that  time,  and  returns 
with  fourteen  or  fifteen  lion  pelts,  the  knowing  ones 
greet  the  news  with  tongue  in  cheek.  I  spoke  to  a 
professional  hunter  in  Nairobi,  whose  name  I  will  not 
mention,  about  a  certain  wealthy  hunter's  luck.  He 
gave  a  shrug  to  his  shoulders.  "A  little  while  ago," 
said  he,  "if  any  sporting  millionaire  wished  to  make 
a  big  lion  bag  and  did  not  care  how  he  got  them,  it 
could    easily    enough    be    arranged.     Of    course,"    said 


WELL-KNOWN   HUNTING-GROUNDS      67 

he,  "if  you  get  on  a  good  fresh  Hon  trail  with  a  jiack 
of  dogs,  that  Hon  is  yours  unless  you  wish  to  let  him 
go.  But  I  am  referring  to  even  a  surer  way.  If  you 
are  where  the  lions  are  plentiful,  and  put  down  ten  or 
fifteen  kills  a  day,  and  your  strychnine  holds  out,  you 
can  make  a  hig  bag ;  and  you  may  find  some  of  the 
lions  before  they  are  entirely  dead,  at  least  they 
may  be  able  to  get  up  on  their  feet  and  growl  at 
you." 

"I  know  a  man,"  he  continued,  "who  went  out 
with  a  wealthy  foreigner,  and  came  hack  with  eight 
lions  to  show  for  a  fourteen  days'  trip,  and  every  skin 
had  a  bullet  hole  in  it,  and  sometimes  two.  I  think  it 
was  prussic  acid  on  this  occasion.  They  say  it  is 
quicker  than  strychnine,   but  a  little  more  expensive." 

I  knew  from  my  own  experience  that  what  this 
man  was  saying  was  absolute  fact.  This  unsportsman- 
like procedure  is  more  often  resorted  to  than  re- 
ported. 

Kearton  and  I  came  across  the  body  of  a  zebra  on 
a  farm  not  far  from  Nyeri,  and  close  to  it  were  lying 
the  dead  bodies  of  no  fewer  than  seven  jackals.  A 
lion  had  also  visited  the  kill  that  night,  and  was  pro- 
bably lying  dead  or  dying  not  far  away.  It  is  the 
preference  of  the  King  of  Beasts  for  carrion  that 
makes  him  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the  animal  "Pritchard." 

We  met  the  watchman  on  this  farm  going  down 
to  look  at  his  poison  trap.  He  told  us  he  had  got 
already  two  lions  and  a  lioness  that  way,  and  had  sold 
their  skins  for  a  good  price.     Another  one  he  had  found 


68  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

too  late  ;  the  poison  had  done  its  work  entirely  too 
well,  and  the  hair  would  not  stay  in  the  hide. 

It  is  not  everyone  who  visits  East  Africa  who  sees 
a  live  lion.  I  know  a  man  who  for  eight  years  has 
been  a  resident  of  an  outlying  district,  and  has  never 
yet  seen  one,  although  he  has  heard  them  a-plenty, 
shouting  in  the  night.  It  is  curious  that  as  the  settlers' 
houses  increase  the  lion  gives  up  roaring,  and  they  say 
that  a  man-eater,  though  he  may  haunt  a  district  for 
a  long  time,  is  always  silent. 

The  Government  have  now  placed  a  limit  on  the 
number  of  lions  that  may  be  shot.  It  would  pay  them 
well  to  look  into  some  of  these  suspected  poison  cases. 
I  myself  was  with  a  farmer,  who  lives  not  far  from 
Nairobi,  when  he  shot  and  poisoned  no  fewer  than 
seven  kongoni  in  one  morning  on  his  own  ground.  I 
suppose  as  he  owned  the  property  he  had  a  perfect 
right  in  his  own  mind  to  do  this;  but  it  wasn't  the 
first  occasion,  as  there  were  many  carcasses  dotting  the 
plain,  and  scores  of  dead  vultures  and  a  few  marabout 
lying  near.  Needless  to  say,  the  valuable  feathers  of 
the  latter  had  all  been  taken.  To  my  mind,  getting 
rid  of  animals  this  way  is  about  as  good  sport  as 
poisoning  your  neighbour's  cat  or  dog. 

Schindler,  the  hunter,  was  killed  while  helping  to 
assist  in  the  taking  of  a  sensational  lion-hunting  cine- 
matograph film  for  an  American  who  holds  the  lion 
record,  and  owns  a  famous  pack  of  dogs.  The  beast 
had  been  chivied  about  from  one  donga  to  another 
for    a    whole    morning,    had    been    pelted    with    stones 


WELL-KNOWN    HUNTING-GROUNDS      69 

and  sticks,  and  was  probably  in  a  furious  state,  when 
the  luckless  and  reckless  hunter  rode  almost  ujion 
him,  with  the  result  that  the  pony  that  he  was  riding 
— one  that  I  had  once  owned  myself  by  the  way — 
was  severely  mauled,  and  he  was  bitten  so  badly  that 
he  lived  but  a  few  hours. 

Fritz  was  a  "card"  if  there  ever  was  one.  If  a 
man  who  had  never  shot  or  hunted  very  much  wished 
for  sensations  he  had  but  to  engage  the  services  of 
this  adventurous  Austrian.  He  was  a  compound  of 
four  favourite  characters  in  fiction — Natty  I^umpo, 
Alan  Breck,  Tartarin  of  Tarascon  and  d'Artignan 
the  musketeer.  He  was  a  born  actor,  and  the 
best  raconteur  I  have  ever  listened  to.  As  a 
white  hunter  he  was  reckless  to  the  verge  of  mad- 
ness, and  as  a  shot  he  was  erratic.  Excitable  as 
a  Frenchman,  and  of  a  very  nervous  disposition,  he 
needed  but  the  incentive  ot  an  audience  to  perform 
the  most  foolhardy  feats.  To  hear  him  recount  sonic 
of  his  hairbreadth  escapes  was  positively  thrilling.  He 
"acted  it  all  out."  He  was  the  hunter  one  moment 
and  the  hunted  the  next.  He  was  horse,  foot,  dragoon 
and  brass  band  of  the  engagement.  To  see  him  stalking 
the  supposed  position  of  a  dangerous  animal  was  a  de- 
light. He  sniffed  the  air  like  a  pointer  dog  feeling  for 
a  scent.  He  crouched  and  pointed  and  beckoned  and 
cautioned  with  those  wonderful  long  fingers,  picked 
up  bits  of  grass  and  leaves,  shaded  his  eyes  with  his 
hand,  and  his  whisper  upon  these  occasions  was  thrill- 
ing  to  the  very  marrow   of   your  bones;    but  once  let 


70  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

the  action  begin  and  Fritz  went  off  like  a  Catherine 
wheel.  We  had  bought  some  ponies,  and  one  day 
we  rode  a  fine  big  male  lion  out  of  a  donga  into  the 
open.  1  can  see  Fritz  now,  digging  his  heels  into  the 
little  Somali  pony,  shouting  like  a  Comanche  Indian, 
screaming  himself  hoarse,  but  keeping  closer  to  the 
lion  than  was  necessary  for  any  purpose,  except  that 
of  tempting  Fate,  and  when  the  beast  was  shot  and 
lying  dead,  Fritz's  emotions  still  had  the  better  of  him. 
He  took  the  big  head  in  his  lap,  caressed  and  talked 
to  it,  called  it  pet  names,  and  then,  jumping  to  his 
feet  without  a  word  of  warning,  fired  two  shots  into 
the  carcass.  Taking  out  his  skinning  knife  afterwards, 
he  searched  for  the  animal's  heart,  cut  off  a  piece  of 
it  and  ate  it  raw  ! 

"An  old  Masai  taught  me  that,"  said  he.  "It  is 
lucky  to  do,  and  keeps  you  brave." 

Yes,  poor  Fritz  was  erratic  almost  to  the  breaking 
point,  but  he  had  many  friends;  and  Nairobi,  by  his 
death,  lost  one  of  its  most  picturesque  and  taking 
characters. 

On  the  plains  at  the  foot  of  the  rocky  needles, 
we  secured  pictures  of  two  rhinos.  At  this  very  place, 
some  three  years  before,  Kearton  had  photographed 
two  others.  On  the  very  top  of  Donaysapuk,  the  great 
wooded  hill  that  rises  sheer  out  of  the  plains  some 
two  or  three  thousand  feet,  we  also  got  the  moving 
picture  of  another,  "  the  rhino  that  turned  eagle." 
From  his  eyrie  he  could  look  down  on  the  encroach- 
ing  farms   and    plantations,    and    there    he    had    sought 


WELL-KNOWN    HUNTING-GROUNDS       71 

sanctuary  in  company  with  a  little  herd  of  hiillalo 
that  still  lived  on  the  slope.  Lon^  may  he  dwell 
there  in  peace,  for  of  all  the  animals  that  are  i)i()hably 
doomed  to  destruction  in  the  near  futme  the  rhiiuj 
will  be  the  first  to  go.  He  has  no  place  in  civili- 
sation. He  belongs  to  a  bygone  age,  and  1  doubt 
not  soon  lie  will  disappear.  His  blunt-noseil  brother 
of  the  South  Sahara  district  may  survive  much  longer, 
but  in  British  East  Africa  the  black  rhinoceros  is 
becoming  rarer  and  rarer. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FROM     B.  E.  A.     TO     UGANDA  I       THE     DEPARTURE 

IT  is  a  Strange  thing  how  the  merest  sign  of  the 
presence  of  civiHsed  man  sweeps  back  the  ages. 
A  single  hne  of  telegraph  posts  or  barbed  wire  fencing 
transforms  the  open  veldt,  that  for  centuries  has  been 
unchanged,  into  the  most  modern  of  back  pastures. 
A  railway  thoroughly  commercialises  the  most  primitive 
of  landscapes,  and  as  one  travels  in  the  train  from  Nair- 
obi out  toward  the  Victoria  Nyanza,  passing  farm  and 
plantation,  and  stopping  at  the  crowded  platforms  of  the 
wayside  stations,  it  is  hard  to  realise  how  young  the 
country  really  is,  that  the  oldest  white  child  living  in 
British  East  Africa  born  of  English  parents  is  but  eight- 
teen  years  of  age,  that  the  geographers  of  twenty-five 
years  ago  had  made  their  maps  principally  by  guesswork 
or  imagination  when  it  came  to  presenting  the  rivers 
and  mountains  of  this  prosperous  and  promising  new 
land. 

In  British  East  Africa  the  Home  Government  has 
a  peculiar  problem  that  surely  in  the  future  will  have  to 
be  dealt  with  on  a  less  narrow  basis  than  the  one  that 
the  present  Government  seems  committed  to  pursue. 
There  is  a  growing  feeling  among  the  somewhat  dis- 
contented  settlers  who    make    up    the    majority   of    the 

7a 


FROM    B.  E.  A.   TO   UGANDA  73 

population — and  here  I  refer  to  those  whose  connection 
with  business  or  industry  compels  them  to  acknowledge 
Africa  as  their  permanent  home — they  feel  that  tlicre 
should  be  a  more  representative  governing  hotly  deal- 
ing with  their  immediate  concerns,  and  that  Downing 
Street,  wath  a  superb  indifference  to  actual  needs,  has 
exercised  too  much  the  prerogatives  of  a  very  busy  and 
very  distant  parent,  paying  very  little  attention  to  advice 
or  suggestion.  Given  another  ten  thousand,  or  j-jcrhaps 
five  thousand,  of  able-bodied  male  inhabitants  and  1 
should  say  that  British  East  Africa  was  ripe  for  a  trial 
of  self-government.  They  would  face,  however,  from 
the  outset  the  same  difficulties  that  exist  everywhere 
where  the  black  man  is  in  overwhelming  majority. 

If  a  prize  were  offered  for  the  best  treatise  on  how 
to  make  the  black  man  a  worker,  or  one  who  looks  for 
labour,  the  candidates  would  belong  to  two  classes. 
Most  writers  would  treat  the  proposition  as  a  joke,  and 
the  others  would  in  all  probability  belong  to  the  stern 
old-fashioned  believers  in  forced  service  and  bodily 
chastisement.  Perhaps  there  might  be  a  few  theorists 
who  still  believe  that  by  early  education,  leading  and 
teaching,  the  black  could  be  so  instructed  as  to  see  the 
dignity  of  strenuous  exertion.  Their  effusions  would 
be  more  amusing  than  those  of  the  professed  humorists. 
The  truth  is,  the  White  Man's  Burden  no  more  loves 
the  prospect  of  hard  work  than  does  his  pale-faced 
brother  who  has  been  initiated  into  the  luxurious  holi- 
day system  of  an   up-to-date  labour  organisation. 

I  have  had  farmers  tell  me  that  a  good  w  hitc  labourer 


74  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

could  do  the  work  of  elev^en  black  men,  and  some  have 
even  asserted  that  if  he  was  young  and  active,  he  would 
accomplish  the  work  of  twenty.  Having  watched  the 
field  hands,  and  the  freemen  employed  in  digging  the 
trench  for  the  Nairobi  sewage  system,  I  quite  believe 
the  latter.  Let  us  look  at  the  black  in  his  own  par- 
ticular sphere.  Where  would  the  white  man  be  found 
who  would  carry  for  eight  hours  sixty  to  eighty  pounds 
on  his  head,  or  by  a  band  round  liis  forehead  with  the 
load  resting  against  his  hips,  and  be  content  at  the 
same  time  with  one  meal  a  day,  with  an  unvaried 
menu  ?  That  white  man  does  not  exist.  The  black 
man  is  what  he  is  and   nothing  more. 

I  remember  seeing  a  book  entitled,  if  I  remember 
correctly:  "  First  lessons  in  Ki-Swaliili,"  and  it  brought 
to  my  mind  those  charmingly  ridiculous  French  primers 
of  early  schooldays:  Translate  "  The  porters  are  lazy" 
— "  The  cook  will  steal  the  salt  " — "  The  cook  will  steal 
sugar  " — (and  so  on,  through  the  rest  of  the  dry  grocery 
list).  "He  is  a  good  boy" — "He  does  not  take 
much  from  his  master" — "He  will  take  from  his  master's 
friends  all  that  he  can  " — "  Can  the  gun-bearer  shoot  ?  " 
—"Yes,  he  can  shoot  you  in  the  leg,"  nnd  so  on.  It 
was  amusing,  and  conveyed  a  lot  of  useful  information. 

After  a  great  deal  of  experience  with  the  black  man 
at  home,  in  America,  and  in  Africa,  I  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  is  very  little  difiference  in  the 
methods  of  reasoning  between  the  over-educated  product 
of  the  American  Southern  schools  and  the  lad  in  the 
bark  cloth  breech    clout.      If  he  is  kindly  disposed    to- 


FROM    B.  E.  A.   TO   UGANDA  75 

wards  you,  lie  wishes  to  please  you:  cyi^o,  il  yon  ask  liini 
a  question,  lie  will  j^ive  you  an  answer  thai  he  thinks 
you  would  like  to  get,  generally  withont  the  least  re- 
gard to  its  hearing  on  the  actual  situation.  11  he  pos- 
sesses anything,  he  wants  you  to  see  it,  he  it  a  learned 
vocabulary,  a  silk  hat  and  a  diamond  pin,  or  a  yard  of 
red  calico.  He  hides  none  of  his  light  under  a  hushel, 
and  if  "imitation  is  the  sincerest  flattery,"  he  doesn't 
stop  at  half  measures.  You  let  yonr  heard  or  whiskers 
grow,  divide  them,  brush  them  back,  up  or  down,  or 
trim  them  to  a  point,  and  your  gun-bearer  will  try  to 
emulate  your  efforts.  If  you  shaved  half  of  your  head 
and  appeared  to  be  proud  of  the  result,  your  safari 
would  come  back  after  two  months  looking  like  a  hand 
of  black  convicts  from  Siberia. 

I  have  met  many  men  long  resident  in  Africa  w  ho 
have  had  hardly  a  good  word  to  say  for  the  black 
man,  and  who,  in  summing  up  his  manifold  delin- 
quencies, have  overlooked  many  qualities  that  are 
interesting,  amusing,  essentially  human,  and  quite 
endearing.  Someone  has  observed  that  "human  life 
is  like  a  book."  Taking  that  for  granted,  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  a  book  is  not  what  is  written  there, 
but  what  the  reader  brings  to  it,  and  though  many 
phases  and  workings  of  the  black  man's  mind  are 
inscrutable,  quite  as  inscrutable  as  the  Oriental  face, 
behind  which  it  is  believed  no  Occidental  can  pene- 
trate, the  qualities  to  be  brought  to  the  reading  are 
patience,  forbearance,  firmness,  and  a  sense  of  humonr. 

Out  of  the  ninety  odd  porters,  who  returned    from 


76  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

the  northern  trip  with  us,  hoth  Kearton  and  myself 
coiilcl  have  picked  perhaps  twenty  between  whom  and 
ourselves  there  existed  a  really  friendly  attachment,  an 
anxiety  on  one  side  to  prove  worthy  of  trust  and  de- 
serving of  commendation,  and  on  the  employer's  part 
a  feeling  of  active  interest  and  a  desire  to  help  and 
to  reward. 

There  was  Murango,  for  instance,  a  very  black  and 
intelligent  Wakamba.  He  carried  the  heaviest  load, 
although  he  was  not  half  the  size  of  some  of  the  big 
lazy  ones.  He  was  always  first  into  camp,  and  the 
first  to  go  out  and  get  wood  for  the  fires.  He  was 
first  into  the  water  at  the  swollen  streams ;  the  only 
one  who  could  be  sent  with  a  message  with  the  abso- 
lute assurance  that  he  would  delay  not  in  his  going 
or  his  coming,  and  when  the  Scribe  was  taken  with 
an  attack  of  fever  at  Nairobi  it  was  Murango  who 
sat  outside  all  day,  although  he  had  been  discharged 
and  paid  oflf,  to  see  if  the  hivaiia  might  have  use  for 
him.  It  was  Murango  who  kept  bringing  badly  muti- 
lated butterfiies  and  beetles  for  our  inspection  when 
he  found  that  we  were  collecting  them  on  our  march. 
He  would  drag  them  forth,  wrapped  in  leaves,  from 
the  folds  of  his  blanket,  show  his  fine  pointed  teeth 
in   a  grin,   and   depart   without  a  word. 

Three  days  after  a  safari  is  jiaid  otT  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  not  one  porter  in  ten  has  a  cent  to  his  name  ; 
that  they  have  had  money  to  spend  is  apparent  at  a 
glance.  I  knew  a  boy  who  bought  two  cheap  watches, 
and  wore  them  hanging  down  on  the  outside  of  a  pair 


FROM    B.  E.  A.   TO   UGANDA  T] 

of  lavender  trousers,  yet  to  save  liis  life  lie  eoiiidn't 
learn  how  to  tell  the  time.  The  porter  sqiiee/es  his 
horny-soled  feet  into  hro\\  ii  hutton  hoots  or  jiatent 
leather  shoes  and  sufTfers  agonies,  and  like  a  true 
spendthrift,  patronises  the  most  expensive  places,  and 
cheerfully  pays  douhle  the  white  man's  prices.  How 
often  have  we  smiled  at  the  incongruities  of  costume  ! 
Broad,  muscular  hacks,  that  out  on  safari  had  stood 
the  fierce  heat  of  the  sun  without  a  hiister,  would  he 
protected  in  town  with  spine  pads  worn  wrong  side 
out  so  that  the  red  lining  would  show.  I  shall  not 
forget  the  appearance  of  one  of  our  old  hoys,  a  stocky 
little  Kikuyu,  a  consistent  loafer  and  malingerer,  whom 
I  saw  on  the  streets.  He  must  have,  hy  mistake, 
drifted  into  a  ladies'  furnishing  store,  for  he  had  on  a 
cheap  lace  chemise,  gathered  with  pink  rihhons,  tucked 
into  a  pair  of  very  tight  duck  trousers,  around  which, 
at  the  knee,  he  had  drawn  on  two  hand-emhroidered 
elastic  garters.  Pea-green  silk  socks  and  carpet  slippers 
completed  his  make-up,  and  he  dangled  from  his  helt 
behind,  like  a  tail,  a  sky  blue  parasol! 

Murango  was  one  of  the  few  exceptions;  he  did 
none  of  these  foolish  things.  Although  I  had  given 
him  a  shirt  when  I  last  saw  him,  he  wore  but  his 
old  red  blanket,  knotted  at  the  shoulder,  and  a  pair 
of  zebra  skin  sandals.  From  the  belt  which  every  boy 
must  w^ar  there  hung  a  new  skinning  knife.  That 
was  all.  Perhaps  he  was  saving  up  to  buy  a  melodeoii, 
who  knows?  Murango  was  one  of  those  \\\\o  came 
down  to  the  station  to  see   us  ofif  the  day  we  departed 


78  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

for  Uganda.  There  were  perhaps  a  dozen  of  the  old 
guard,  Killenjui  among  them.  He  also  had  been  very 
sensible  in  his  purchases,  and  was  neatly  dressed  in 
khaki  knickers  and  a  greyish  green  tail  coat,  with  a 
semi-military  fez  on  his  shaved  black  head. 

"Hiya!  Quahira,  bwana,"  they  exclaimed  crowd- 
ing about  us,  and  neither  Kearton  nor  myself  are 
ashamed  to  say  that  we  shook  each  one  of  them  by 
the  hand.  Killenjui  lingered  until  the  moment  the 
train  started.  We  had  tried  to  persuade  him  to  come 
with  us. 

"Wakukuyu  watakufa  kule  huko,"  he  said,  point- 
ing to  the  west.  "Nina  engoja  hapa."  (The  Kikuyus 
die  out  there.     I  must  stay  here.) 

Just  as  the  train  was  starting  he  ran  up  quickly 
to  Kearton  and  myself.  He  fumbled  with  my  thumb 
as  he  shook  hands  with  me.  There  were  tears  in  his 
eyes.  He  did  not  trust  himself  to  speak!  Now,  after 
this,  who  can  say  that  an  African  does  not  feel,  and 
has  no  sense  of  loyalty  ?  A  white  man  standing  by 
noticed  the  farewell. 

"  He  tried  to  give  you  the  shake  of  friendship," 
he  said  to  me.  "It's  done  by  clasping  the  thumbs 
tightly  and  then  pulling  the  hands  apart." 

If  I  ever  meet  Killenjui  again,  I  will  be  the  first 
to  reach  for  his  sturdy  Uttle  thumb. 

Nevertheless,  we  brought  on  two  boys  with  us,  who 
were  destined  to  share  our  fortunes  for  the  next  five 
months;  one,  indeed,  accompanied  us  all  the  way 
across,  and  is  at  the  moment  of  writing  in  London. 


THE    SCRIBE    AND    BAKALE 


FROM    B.  E.  A.    TO    UGANDA  79 

As  thev  limine  in  oui"  siihscc]iK'iit  ach  ciiliiics,  it 
might  he  well  to  nitiodiice  tlicni.  l^rnesti,  Kearton  s 
boy,  in  every  way  li\eci  \.\\^  to  the  good  reputation 
and  the  letters  that  he  had  brought  with  him.  lie  was 
a  Buganda  of  a  good  hniiily,  the  son  ot  a  small  chief, 
and  had  been  educated  in  a  mission  school.  He  spoke 
English  and  three  or  h)ur  native  dialects.  He  could 
read  and  \\rite,  and  jMoved  to  be  both  trustw orthv  and 
intelligent;  well  trained  as  a  servant,  he  also  possessed 
knowledge  of  the  white  man's  ways  and  requirements. 
To  Kearton  he  proved  quite  indispensable  belore  the 
trip  was  out.  Bakale,  my  new  boy,  came  from  (jerman 
East  Africa.  He  had  no  letters,  and  I  knew  nothing 
of  him  when  I  engaged  him  at  a  porter's  wages  in 
Nairobi;  but  he,  too,  proved  to  have  been  well  trained 
and  took  an  exceeding  interest  in  all  my  affairs,  and 
was  soon  promoted,  and  his  pay  increased  proportion- 
ately. Bakale  was  no  end  of  a  swell.  He  was  a  good 
looking,  in  fact  quite  a  handsome,  brown-skinned 
lad  of  that  uncertain  age  that  might  have  been  nine- 
teen or  twenty-nine.  His  face  w^as  very  slightly  scarred  ; 
he  had  rings  of  light  blue  tattooing  on  his  temples; 
his  features  were  not  of  negroid  character — his  nose 
quite  small  and  thin,  his  lips  well  formed — and  he 
had  the  figure  of  an  Egyptian  athlete,  narrow  in  the 
waist,  broad  at  the  shoulders,  with  slender,  well- 
formed  limbs.  Not  only  was  he  no  end  of  a  swell, 
and  a  perfect  "divvil"  with  the  ladies,  but  he  was 
a  natural-born  fighter,  and  could  use  his  fists  like  a 
professional   welterweight.       It    was    the    way    he    man- 


8o  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

handled  a  quarrelsome  M'pagazi  half  again  his  size 
that  first  drew  my  attention  to  him.  He  was  always 
neat,  and  dressed  in  the  most  becoming  style  from 
his  own  standpoint.  In  fact  he  had  a  much  larger 
assortment  of  clothing  than  the  average  white  man. 
At  first  I  counted  my  own  things  very  care- 
fully, but  up  to  the  time  of  his  leaving  I  missed 
nothing. 

So  I  have  spoken  of  leaving  Nairobi.  There  was 
with  us  in  the  same  compartment  as  we  went  west 
Stewart  Edward  White,  the  American  writer,  bound 
up  the  line  to  look  for  Bongo,  and  a  young  Aus- 
tralian named  Strong,  who  was  to  accompany  us  down 
the  Ituri  and  the  Congo. 

W.  H.  Strong  had  been  in  the  employ  of  the 
Fourminiere  Company,  an  exploitation  and  mining 
company  with  headquarters  in  Brussels,  although  the 
stock  is  principally  owned  in  America.  He  had  spent 
two  years  in  the  Congo  some  time  before,  but  so 
greatly  had  conditions  altered  in  that  short  space  of 
time  that  it  was  a  new  country  to  him  when  he  again 
entered  it. 

The  finest  view  on  the  Uganda  road  is  that  when 
the  train  pulTs  up  to  the  brow  of  the  Great  Divide, 
the  Mau  escarpment,  and  drops  by  gravity  past  gorge 
and  steep  descent  into  the  valley  beyond.  To  the 
south  lies  an  almost  waterless  tract  for  miles.  Vol- 
canic formations,  extinct  craters,  low-lying  hills  and 
lava  stone,  interspersed  with  a  scant  growth  of  thorn, 
it    used    to    be   a    famous    lion    country,    and    there   are 


INSPECTION    ON    THE    S.S.    "CLEMENT    HILL" 
LAKE     VICTORIA     NYANZA 


FROM    B.  E.  A.    TO    UGANDA  8i 

some  there  yet,    but  it   is   not  an   easy  coiintrv  to   lumt 
in,   and  not  often  visited   by  safaris. 

To  the  nc)rth  of  the  road  hes  a  distinctly  different 
land.  Attracted  by  the  lii^li  mountains,  the  rainfall 
is  quite  plentiful,  and  as  the  train  nears  Lake  Navassha, 
the  settlers'  farms  are  seen  on  both  sides,  and  aj^ain 
the  country  chanj^^es  to  grassy  slopes,  as  the  railway 
comes  closer  to  the  great  lake.  Komassi,  or  Port 
Florence,  is  the  starting  point  of  the  steamers  for 
Entebbe.  When  it  is  reasoned  that  these  vessels  have 
been  built  piece  by  piece  and  mostly  with  Indian 
labour  at  the  shops  and  shipyards,  the  visitor  is  sur- 
prised at  the  size  and  capacity  of  craft  like  the 
Clement  Hill,  rating  nearly  1,200  tons,  where  everything 
is  "  shipshape  and  Bristol  fashion,"  and  the  crew  as 
well  trained  as  on  any  liner  that  sails  from  Southamp- 
ton. The  meals  served  on  board  the  Clement  Hill 
were  the  best  we  had  tasted  since  leaving  London,  and 
the  service  was  excellent.  We  went  on  board  at  ten 
on  a  Sunday  morning  and  arrived  at  Entebbe  at  9.30 
the  next  day,  anchoring  near  one  of  the  islands  for 
the  night,  as  the  shore  has  no  lighthouses  and  at  the 
present  time  is  entirely  depopulated,  for  it  was  here 
that  the  sleeping  sickness  swept  away  the  inhabitants 
like  one  of  the  plagues  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Careful  watch  has  to  be  maintained  to  see  that  the 
natives  do  not  return.  A  light  or  the  sign  of  a  fire 
is  immediately  reported,  and  the  Government  launch 
sets  forth  to  oust  and  punish  tlie  intruders  on  the 
forbidden    ground.     Most    beautiful    is    the    scenery    in 


82  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

this  region,  very  much  indeed  iike  the  coast  of  New 
England,  and  there  were  places  that  reminded  me  of 
"The  Thoroughfare,"  that  wonderful  inland  route 
through  the  islands  of  the  Maine  coast.  But,  alas, 
when  it  comes  to  the  evidences  of  life  the  resem- 
blance ceases  entirely.  It  is  a  land  of  desolation. 
Here  and  there  showed  above  the  trees  the  steeples 
of  missionary  churches,  or  well  built  stone  and  con- 
crete stores  and  magazines,  slowly  being  overgrown 
with  vines  and  creepers.  Not  a  canoe  did  we  meet 
w  ith  on  the  voyage — nor  did  we  sight  a  human 
habitation    on  the  shores. 

Uganda  was  a  missionary  stronghold  nearly  thirty 
years  ago.  It  has  been  the  scene  of  one  great  native 
rebellion,  and  the  railway  that  now  connects  this  land 
of  a  great  future  with  the  coast,  was  built  in  order  to 
suppress  the  slave  trade,  whose  outlet  from  the  Congo 
districts  ended  at  the  Great  Lakes,  which  were  the 
distributing  points.  The  Arab  influence  has  now  dis- 
appeared, leaving  its  trace,  however,  in  the  Moham- 
medan religion  that  has  counteracted  the  efforts  of 
the  missionary  more  than  the  apathy  of  the  natives 
themselves. 

Entebbe  we  found  to  be  a  beautiful  little  town, 
clean,  neat,  and  attractive,  and  everything  evinced  the 
fact  that  the  government  here  was  in  the  hands  of 
men  who  had  all  thought  for  the  good  of  the  land 
and  its  people.  But  impressions  of  Uganda  that  we 
gathered  will   make  another  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VIT. 

IN    THE    KABAKA's    COUNTRY 

UGANDA  is  a  country  that  is  boiiiul  to  impress 
even  the  most  casual  ot  visitors.  Although  it  is, 
strictly  speaking,  but  a  Protectorate  of  the  Crown,  it  is 
assuredly  as  much  of  a  possession  as  any  one  of  the 
scattered  islands  or  the  wide  lands  mapped  out  in  red 
that  gird  the  earth. 

It  should  be  a  most  prideful  possession  from  the 
British  standpoint,  and  may  prove  a  rich  one  also.  It 
struck  us  in  the  first  place  that  every  man  we  met 
was  there  for  a  purpose,  and  was  doing  his  work, 
whatever  it  might  be,  to  the  top  of  his  bent.  There 
are  no  remittance  men,  loafers,  or  land  gamblers  in 
Uganda.  At  present  there  is  no  place  for  them ; 
everyone  seems  to  have  a  job   and  all  are  busy. 

Each  Government  department  and  each  industry 
shows  organisation  and  efficient  management.  They 
have  studied  questions  and  worked  out  problems  ; 
everything  reflects  the  wide  knowledge  and  close 
attention  of  a  real  administrative  head.  It  is  a  pleasure 
to  see  it.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  meet  tlie  people  who 
are  responsible  for  it  all.  The  very  aspect  and 
manners  of  the  natives  bear  out  this  good  work.  For 
certainly  the   Buganda,    take    them    by   and    large,    are 

ro  8.^ 


84  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

the  most  intelligent,  wealthy,  and  industrious,  the  best 
looking,  and  most  polite  of  the  many  tribes  with  whom 
we   came   in   contact. 

There  is  little  of  the  heavy-featured  negroid  type 
among  them.  In  their  blood  there  must  be  a  large 
mixture  of  the  Northern  and  Semitic  strains  that  tend 
to  make  the  dark-skinned  man  who  possesses  them 
a  leader  and  ruler  among  his  fellows. 

The  paramount  chiefs,  called  kings  in  the  past, 
ruled  over  vast  stretches  of  magnificent  country,  and 
counted  their  subjects  by  the  million.  That  the 
present  prestige  of  the  white  man  is  due  in  large 
measure  to  missionary  influence  must  be  acknowledged 
at  the    outset. 

Uganda  is  not  a  conquered  country;  it  is  one  that 
has  been  acquired  by  the  influence  of  sterling  character, 
singleness  of  purpose,  and  great  devotion  to  a  cause. 
It  is  a  beautiful,  and,  when  once  away  from  the  ffy- 
infected  districts,  a  healthy  country,  despite  the  dreadful 
toll  exacted  by  the   sleeping   sickness. 

It  is  commercially  productive  also.  The  cofifee  has 
the  same  good  qualities  as  that  raised  in  British  East 
Africa,  and  the  cotton  industry  holds  promise  of  a 
successful  future,  and   cattle   thrive  there. 

Alas,  it  is  no  country  for  the  polo  player  and  the 
racing  man.  Horses  do  not  survive  long.  I  think 
there  was  only  one  in  the  length  and  the  breadth  of 
the  land  in  the  year  1913.  Mules  and  donkeys  also 
are  few  and  far  between.  The  country  can  get  along 
without  them  now   as  it   has  in  the  past. 


IN   THE   KABAK/VS   COUNTRY  .^5 

Kcarton  had  tlic  honour  to  iiuinhcr  amoiijj;  his 
African  friends  the  Governor,  Sir  Fretlcrick  Jackson, 
and  we  had  tlie  pleasine  ot  calling  u\u)\]  him  at 
Governnient  House.  As  we  sat  in  the  httle  arhour 
having  tea  it  was  hard  to  imagine  that  we  were  not 
at  home  in  England.  Enghsh  flowers  hloomed  and 
blossomed  in  the  garden,  the  lurt  was  green  and 
fresh,  a  wide  sweep  of  lawn  led  up  to  a  very  modern 
English-looking  mansion  of  red  brick  and  stone,  and 
on  the  near-by  tennis  court  a  game  was  in  |-)rogress. 
The  present  Governor  is  not  one  who  has  been  moved 
on  from  some  far  distant  post  in  the  West  Indies, 
Straits  Settlement,  or  India;  he  is,  so  to  speak,  one  of 
the  pioneers  of  the  country  itself,  a  man  who  has 
seen  it  grow,  and  who  understands  the  needs  and 
requirements  of  its  people.  He  is  also  a  natiualist, 
and  ornithologist,  and  Kearton  and  he  met  on  common 
ground.  He  was  interested  in  our  projects  and  in 
our  work,  and  promised  every  aid  that  he  could  give, 
an  aid  that  we  were   very  grateful  to   acknowledge. 

We  stopped  but  a  day  at  Entebbe,  just  long 
enough,  in  fact,  to  clear  us  with  tlie  Customs,  and  de- 
parted by  automobile  for  Kampala,  making  the  twenty- 
five  mile  journey  in  some  fifty  minutes  over  the  best 
road  in  Africa.  Our  goods  and  chattels  followed  us 
by  motor  van  the  same  afternoon.  Somebody  had 
given  us  the  name  of  an  hotel  there.  It  was  a  very 
high  sounding  and  distinguished  name  ;  it  might  be 
better  to  let  the  matter  drop  at  that,  but  facts  demand 
its  mention. 


86  THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

At  Entebbe  a  visitor,  if  be  bas  sufficient  money, 
can  stop  at  a  very  beautiful  hostelry  that  once  was 
the  old  Government  House,  down  near  the  lake, 
neat  and  comfortable,  with  wide  verandahs  and  good 
service.  If  he  happens  to  be  a  prospective  resident  in 
Uganda  he  may  be  able  to  get  settler's  rates,  in  which 
case,  if  he  possesses  a  good  letter  of  credit,  he  can 
stop  there  longer.  We  were  not  settlers,  and,  having 
regard  to  economy  as  I  say,  we  went  on  to  Kampala. 
But  there  are  worse  things  than  spending  money.  As 
we  walked  down  the  narrow  verandah  of  the  one  storey 
*'  hotel  "  with  the  aristocratic  name  I  peered  into  the 
six  by  eight  apartments.  In  one  of  them  a  lonely 
man  sat  disconsolately  on  a  broken-down  chair.  I 
felt  very  much  like  asking  him  what  he  was  in  there 
for,  and  if  he  had  any  friends  to  go  to  when  he  came 
out.  I  felt  there  must  be  some  mistake  somewhere, 
and  expressed  my  views,  whereupon  Kearton  asked 
our  ragged  black  guide,  who  was  demanding  matabeesh 
for  having  carried  a  small  bag  some  thirty-six  and  a 
half  feet  from  the  road,  if  this  really  was  the  hotel. 
The  boy  did  not  understand,  so  I  tried  him  in  Swahili. 
Kearton  had  addressed  him  in  English.  The  boy 
looked  doubtful.  Very  soon  an  Indian  steward  appeared 
and  our  fears  were  set  at  rest.  It  was  the  hotel,  that 
is,  one  could  go  in  and  go  out  of  it  whenever  one  liked. 
I  registered  a  vow  to  go  out  as  often  as  possible. 
There  were  no  locks  to  the  doors,  no  glass  in  the 
windows.  There  were  no  windows  now  I  recollect ;  there 
were  no  sheets   on   the  beds;    in    fact,   I   once  found  a 


n 


IHK     KABAKAS      DRUMS 


>"M.'-  ':».« 


STRINGED    INcTRUMKNTS    AND    CIJORUS 


IN  THE  KABAKA'S  COUNTRY    87 

better  hotel  eight  hundred  miles  up  the  Orinoco 
River  where  a  real  white  man  was  a  curiosity.  But 
what  was  lacking  in  quantity  was  made  up  in  quality, 
human  quality  this  time.  By  live  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  young  men  began  to  arrive  dressed  in  foot- 
ball knickers,  and  we  found  that  there  was  a  match  on 
between  the  two  local  teams.  When  the  referee  was 
included  you  had  practically  the  whole  list  of  Kampala's 
able-bodied  males  under  the  age  of  forty.  They  ranked 
from  the  apothecary  to  the  Resident  P.  M.O. ;  they 
were  not  in  the  least  standoflRsh,  and  we  soon  scraped 
acquaintance,  with  the,  result  that  we  witnessed  the 
game,  were  entertained  at  the  club,  and  attended  an 
impromptu  sing-song  in  the  evening  in  the  hotel  dining- 
room. 

Our  acquaintances  soon  turned  into  friends,  and 
our  stay  at  Kampala  was  made  pleasant  through  the 
hospitality  extended  to  us  by  these  fine  young  re- 
presentatives of  the  English  sporting  spirit. 

The  golf  links  were  almost  at  the  door,  and  every 
evening  between  four  and  six  there  were  plenty  of 
people  on  the  links,  and  a  game  of  football  or  hockey 
was  always  in  progress  on  the  field  of  the  sports  club. 

Kampala  is  some  two  or  three  hundred  feet  higher 
than  Entebbe,  and  is  built  up  the  sloping  sides  of 
two  ranges  of  hills.  Within  the  next  year  the  railway 
will  connect  it  with  Jinja,  at  the  end  of  lake  navi- 
gation, and  I  can  say  for  prospective  visitors  that  a 
real  hotel  is  being  built. 

We    did    not    stay   long    in    the    row    of    cells,    but 


88  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

pitched  our  tents  ujion  the  hill-side  about  half  a  mile 
from  the  main  street  of  the  town,  and  went  into 
housekeeping  as  it  were,  engaging  the  services  of  a 
cook,  and  taking  on  two  or  three  extra  boys.  The 
house  or  palace  of  the  Kabaka  was  about  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  away  on  the  top  of  another  hill,  and  the 
hospital  of  the  three  brothers  Cook,  medical  mission- 
aries, was  about  ten  minutes'  walk.  They  are  the  two 
points  of  interest  in  Kampala  and  worthy  of  full 
description. 

Everyone  in  England  remembers  the  visit  of  the 
Kabaka  of  Uganda  to  London  in  1913,  and  his  person- 
ally conducted  tour  to  various  points  of  interest,  where 
he  was  accorded  most  flattering  receptions.  The  news- 
papers at  the  time  referred  to  him  as  the  "Young 
King  of  Uganda,"  but  Daudi  is  not  a  king  in  any 
sense  of  the  word,  and  doubtless  he  will  never  be 
hailed  as  one.  This  tall,  mild-mannered  Buganda 
comes  of  what  might  be  called  the  royal  line,  for 
he  numbers  among  his  forebears  and  forerunners 
Mtesa,  and  the  despotic  Mwanga,  kings  if  you  like, 
in  that  they  were  a  law  unto  themselves  and  held  the 
power  of  life  and  death  over  both  subjects  and  visitors 
to  their  country.  And  this  is  what  being  a  king  in 
Africa  means.  Things  have  changed  somewhat.  Daudi 
is  a  Christian  and  a  Protestant,  some  of  his  uncles 
and  cousins  are  Roman  Catholics,  and  I  was  informed, 
so  far  as  their  living  goes,  a  few  of  his  relations 
lean  toward  the   practices  of  Mohammedanism. 

The   present  Kabaka  was  chosen  when   he  was  very 


•-■sflBBPRl*^ 


THE     CHAMPION     WI^ESTLKK     Ol'      UGANDA 


IN   THE   KABAKA'S   COUNTRY  89 

young,  and  has  been  educated,  almost  one  might  say 
over-educated,  by  Enghsh  tutors,  and  preceptors,  until 
he  has  more  or  less  assimilated  rules,  precepts,  re- 
strictions and  regulations,  and  has  adopted  a  stand- 
point toward  lite  that  more  or  less  corresponds  witli 
that  of  a  very  dutiful  Oxford  undergraduate  whose 
wealthy  parents  pay  his  bills,  and  purchase  for  him 
whatever  his  fancy  may  desire.  He  is  quite  tied  to 
his  (adoptive)  mother's  apron  strings. 

Wisely,  those  in  authority  over  him  have  encouraged 
him  to  maintain  a  certain  prestige  \\ith  liis  j^cople  by 
keeping  up  a  show  of  old  African  customs  and  regal 
prerogatives.  His  drums  are  booming  all  day,  and  at 
the  most  unchristian-like  hours  in  the  morning.  He 
presides  over  a  Court  of  Chiefs,  and  administers  justice, 
but  there  is  a  calm,  low -voiced  Englishman  beside 
him,  and  back  of  the  carved  chair  in  which  he  sits 
hang  almost  life-sized  portraits  of  the  present  King  and 
Queen.  He  attends  the  receptions  and  entertainments 
that  he  gives  where  African  sports,  wrestling,  dancing, 
drum  and  wooden  xylophone  orchestra,  keep  up  the 
traditions  of  the  past,  and  he  watches  languidly  the 
proceedings.  The  adulation  of  his  subjects,  who  ap- 
proach him  on  bended  knees,  gives  him  no  jileasure. 
The  whole  Earl's  Court  atmosphere  that  pervades  these 
affairs,  and  interests  the  casual  visitor,  bores  Daudi  half 
to  death.  He  had  much  rather  be  spinning  along  the 
road  driving  his  40  h.p.  motor  or  pottering  about  with 
his  expensive  cameras  and  his  own  mo\ing  picture 
machine.     But    it    is    good    policy    and    it    pays.     The 


90  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

fact  is  that  this  young  scion  of  the  "rule  absokite " 
does  what  is  suggested  to  fiim,  or  as  he  is  told  to  do, 
and  talks  and  acts  as  he  has  been  instructed  to  talk 
and  act  since  infancy.  What  he  thinks  is  a  different 
matter.  I  do  not  know,  and  I  am  quite  sure  that  nobody 
else  does.  At  any  time,  if  he  should  kick  over  the 
traces,  or  display  too  much  individuality,  any  old  uncle 
of  his  would  take  his  job  at  a  moment's  notice,  for 
the  increased  emoluments  alone.  They  are  all  pen- 
sioners or  prisoners,  so  to  speak,  as  are  the  members 
of  most  royal  families,  and  back  of  their  maintenance 
and  luxury  and  semi-idleness  are  policy  and  politics. 

We  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  the  Kabaka  on 
a  number  of  occasions.  We  lunched  with  him  at 
his  tutor's  house,  and  he  kindly  arranged  for  us  a 
native  entertainment  of  sports  and  dances,  including 
a  sham  fight. 

We  were  pleased  and  were  most  grateful,  and 
enjoyed  ourselves,  and  we  also  took  photographs: 
We  found  the  young  black  hostage  of  policy  to  be 
an  intelligent,  gentle-voiced  young  man  of  supremely 
good  manner,  with  that  diffident  shyness  of  good 
breeding,  and  possessed  of  a  certain  culture.  He 
reminded  me  of  a  tall  young  Eton  boy  done  in  dark 
sepia.  His  training  and  education  seemed  to  have 
taken  the  lines  of  Ethiopia  out  of  his  countenance 
and  expression.  The  traces  of  his  head-hacking,  malwa- 
drinking  ancestors  are  eliminated  entirely.  Externally 
he  is  a  product,  a  product  of  up-to-date  civilisation. 
He  has  about  as  much   relation  to  his  own  past  family 


IN   THE    KABAKA'S   COUNTRY  qi 

history  as  the  Edinburgh  professor  1  once  met  to  the 
wild,  skin-clad  McLeans  of  loiia,  honi  wlioni  he 
sprang.  Only  in  the  Kahaka  case  it  has  been  the  work 
of  a  single  generation,  and  not  the  result  ol  centuries 
of  environment. 

We  discussed,  if  I  remember,  golf,  football,  and 
cameras.  In  a  lull  in  the  conversation  his  tutor  asked 
him  quite  audibly  it  he  had  read  the  three  chapters 
that  he  had  marked  for  him,  "  had  finished  his  sum," 
as  it  were,  to  which  the  grandson  of  the  great  Mtesa 
replied  quite  gently  and  simply  that  he  had  finished 
two,  and  would  do  the   other  before  the  evening. 

He  visited  us  at  our  camp  that  we  had  pitched 
on  the  site  of  the  old  Kamj^ala  fort,  took  the  greatest 
interest  in  the  moving  picture  machines,  and  brought 
a  camera  and  some  films  of  his  own  for  Kearton  to 
put  in  order  for  him.  The  sports  that  had  been 
arranged  for  us  took  place  on  the  royal  football 
ground.  The  i  resence  of  the  goal-posts,  an  obtrusive 
bicycle,  a  line  of  telephone  wire,  and  the  array  of 
white  spectators  sitting  in  camp  chairs,  the  ladies  in 
their  best  frocks  and  lace  parasols,  were  not  the 
only  jarring  notes  in  the  barbaric  festival.  The  wrestlers 
for  the  most  part,  with  an  overdoing  of  modesty, 
appeared  in  striped  chintz  or  cotton  shirts  or  even 
kansas,  the  long  nightgown  arrangement,  the  survi\  al 
of  Arab  influence.  They  were  more  or  less  di- 
shevelled at  the  end  of  some  of  the  bouts,  it  must 
be  acknowledged,  and  1  could  not  help  smiling 
at  the    champion  dancer's  make-up.     He  performed  a 


92  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

solo  with  much  wild  motion,  snorting,  stamping,  and 
face-making,  hut  dangling  round  his  neck,  and  ever 
ohtrusive,  was  a  silver  and  gilt  crucifix  at  the  end 
of  a  long  chain.  The  Earl's  Court  stage  manager  would 
never  have  permitted  that  !  The  presence  of  four 
or  five  long-bearded  White  Fathers  in  their  cassocks 
and  rosaries  added  another  somewhat  jarring  note. 

The  whole  afifair  was  most  interesting,  and  inter- 
esting no  less  so  for  the  juxtaposition  of  tradition  and 
present  influence.  But  it  differed  greatly  from  the 
dances  and  ceremonies  that  we  subsequently  witnessed 
and  recorded,  where  the  white  man's  presence  was 
still   an   intrusion. 

A  curious  incident  happened  during  the  sham 
fight  of  the  painted  warriors,  who  used,  however, 
for  the  most  part  long  reeds  in  place  of  spears.  It 
was  unexpected  and  called  for  roars  of  laughter 
and  applause,  and  yet  it  made  me  think,  and  gave 
for  an  instant  a  semblance  of  reality  to  the  pro- 
ceedings. 

The  black  man  is  a  good  actor  and  exponent 
of  the  school  of  realism.  The  players  in  the  little 
war  drama  entered  into  it  with  a  spirit  that  was  most 
commendable.  Macready  at  his  best  in  the  role  of 
the  Gladiator  never  died  more  dramatically  or  realis- 
tically than  did  the  supposed-to-be-stabbed  fighter 
on  the  outskirts  of  the  mock  engagement.  He  rose 
to  his  elbows,  half  struggled  to  his  knees,  fell  back 
and  gasped  his  last,  and  lay  there  face  upwards  to 
the  broiling  sun  while  the   battle   drifted  down  toward 


A     BUGANDA     WARRIOR     IN     HIS     WAR-PAINT 
II 


IN  THE  KABAKA'S  COUNTRY    93 

the  farther  goal-posts,  and  out  of  tlic  sky  a  big 
vulture  dropped  down  like  a  bullet  and  hovered  over 
him.  The  man  arose  quickly  and  beat  at  it  with 
his  wand  of  elephant  grass.  The  audience  both 
white  and  black  burst  into  shouts  of  laughter  and 
rapturous  applause. 

Now  vultures  live  to  a  good  age,  like  eagles,  w^ho 
have  been  known  to  exist  for  half  a  century.  Per- 
haps, in  the  not  very  far  distant  past,  this  same  bird 
had  shot  down  from  the  blue  on  the  edge  of  some 
real  battlefield.     Who  knows? 

I  mentioned  the  football  field.  The  Kabaka  is  an 
expert  Association  player,  and  has  a  team  that  has 
defeated  the  best  that  the  whites  can  put  against 
it.  He  has  also  won  the  silver  cup  on  the  golf  links, 
and  is  a  fair  hand  at  tennis,  I  was  told.  I  once 
saw  some  natives  playing  "soccer,"  and  to  see  a  big 
Buganda  lift  a  heavy  football  some  thirty-five  or  forty 
yards,  from  the  point  of  his  bare  toes,  made  me  ache 
from  ankle  to  hip  joint,  but  they  played  thus  bare- 
footed all  day  long.  At  scientific  heading  of  the  ball 
I  have  never  seen  their  equal. 

In  this  chapter  I  have  made  mention  of  the  three 
brothers  Cook,  medical  missionaries,  who  have  built  in 
Kampala  a  hospital  and  sanatorium.  It  is  not  only  a 
credit  to  their  faith  and  work,  but  to  the  great  nation  to 
which  they  belong.  Could  the  people  in  England  know 
of  the  magnificent  work  and  devoted  self-sacrifice  of 
these  three  eminent  surgeons  and  medical  men,  the 
work    they    are    doing   would    never    lack    for    financial 


94  THROUGH    CENTRAL   AFRICA 

sui")p()rt  from  home.  It  is  this  practical  side  of  Chris- 
tianity tliat  leaves  its   lasting    impression   on   a  country. 

Uganda  ever  since  the  days  of  Mr.  A.  M.  Mackie, 
and  of  Messrs.  Walker,  Deakes,  and  Cyril  Gordon, 
seems  to  have  called  out  the  best  to  arduous  labours 
in  this  far  otlf  field.  In  justice  to  my  own  experience 
I  cannot  but  say  that  I  have  seen  times  and  places  where 
missionary  effort  seems  to  have  been  missj  e  it  or  mis- 
directed, but  certainly  here  the  efforts  have  borne  and 
are  bearing  fruit.  White  people  come  from  all  over 
Africa  to  the  Cooks'  sanatorium  and  hospital,  and 
wealthy  or  poor  they  are  treated  just  the  same.  The 
charge  is  nothing,  merely  what  can  be  given  to  further 
the  general  work  for  good.  My  heart  warms  within 
me  when  I  think  of  what  these  splendid  men  are 
doing.  At  home  in  Harley  Street  one  could  imagine 
that  fashionable  people  would  have  thronged  their 
waiting  rooms.  Emoluments  and  honours  might  have 
been  pressed  upon  them,  but  out  here,  on  the  top 
of  one  of  the  Uganda  hills,  a  greater  and  better  thing 
is  being  done  than  gaining  wealth  or  honour.  Quietly 
and  unostentatiously  they  are  working  out  their  own 
and  the  country's  problem.  The  modest  yearly  report 
conveys  little  idea  of  the  immense  good  of  their  in- 
fluence over  the  natives.  The  neatness  and  complete- 
ness of  their  hospital,  and  the  numbers  of  their  grateful 
patients,  prove  not  only  their  scientific  knowledge  but 
their  powers  of  organisation. 

They  have  combined  the  teaching  of  precepts  and 
object  lessons  of  faith. 


IN  THE  KABAKA'S  COUNTRY    95 

Our  stay  in  Kampala  had  been  an  enforced  one  to 
a  certain  extent,  owing  to  the  fact  that  supphes  that 
we  had  sent  on  from  Mombasa  had  by  some  mistake 
been  forwarded  to  Masindi.  From  there  we  had 
ordered  them  to  be  taken  by  porters  to  meet  us  at 
Fort  Portal  or  Toro,  whicii  was  to  be  our  starting 
point  for  the  Belgian  Congo.  At  last  we  received 
word  that  sufficient  porters  had  been  gathered  through 
the  eflforts  of  our  friend  Mr.  Knowles,  the  P.  C.  at 
Kampala,  and  that  the  first  instalment  of  our  supplies 
had  left  Masindi.  We  had  taken  on  now  a  new  cook, 
who  subsequently  proved  to  be  all  kinds  of  a  bad  one, 
and  had  engaged  a  big  nine  ton  motor  van  to  carry  us 
and  our  belongings  to  Mbendi,  some  hundred  and 
five  miles  due  west.  Captain  Riddick,  the  chief  of 
police  at  Kampala,  had  wired  on  for  two  Askaris  or 
native  police  to  meet  us  at  this  point,  and  convoy 
the  porters  we  were  to  pick  up  there  as  far  as  Toro, 
a  march  of  seven  days. 

The  road  was  excellent  and  every  minute  of  it 
was  enjoyal:)le.  We  found  that  we  could  go  on  farther 
than  Mbendi,  and  ended  our  motor  journey  at  Cacagua, 
where  we  gathered  a  safari  of  some  eighty  porters 
to  take  us  the  seventy  odd  miles  that  lay  before  us. 

We  travelled  rather  slowly,  stopping  at  the  well- 
appointed  Government  rest  houses,  and  at  every  place, 
owing  to  our  military  escort,  w^e  found  no  difficulty 
in  obtaining  food.  At  Kehara  we  came  across  ele- 
phant spoor,  the  big  beasts  had  been  within  a  mile 
of  our  camp   and  had   crossed  the  road  above  it. 


96  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

We  were  travelling  through  a  clear  and  cultivated 
country  with  an  agricultural  population,  and  at  Kehara 
we  pitched  canip  near  the  French  Mission.  The 
White  Fathers  kindly  sent  down  to  us  fruit  and 
vegetables. 

Now  in  the  far  distance  we  could  see  the  moun- 
tains of  the  Rewenzori,  but  the  tops  were  always 
shrouded  in  clouds.  On  the  17th  December  we  arrived 
at  Toro  at  last  and  found  that  none  of  our  supplies 
had  arrived.  It  was  only  a  twelve  days'  march  from 
Masindi,  but  as  the  porters  had  no  white  men  with 
them  they  took   eighteen   days   to  make  the   journey. 

Toro  is  a  military  post  of  considerable  importance, 
and  in  the  near  future  it  may  be  more  so,  when  the 
military  road  is  quite  completed.  Here  we  were  re- 
ceived with  all  hospitality  by  the  resident  officers,  and, 
though  they  numbered  but  four  or  five  all  told,  here 
were  the  golf  links  again  and  the  tennis  courts.  We 
were  informed  that  porters  were  difficult  to  obtain, 
but  that  in  the  course  of  a  fortnight  or  so  it  might 
be  possible  to  procure  them.  This  was  rather  a  heart- 
breaker,  as  we  wished  to  press  on  into  the  Belgian 
territory  as  fast  as  possible. 

How  we  got  out  of  the  difficulty  makes  quite  a 
good  story, 

I  have  said  that  Kearton's  personal  boy,  Ernesti, 
came  from  Uganda  and  spoke  English.  He  heard 
us  discussing  our  difficulty,  and  came  to  our  relief 
with  a  suggestion.  In  fact,  it  was  not  a  suggestion, 
it   was    a    most    astounding    declaration.     He    said    he 


A     BRIDGK    ON    THE     HIGHWAY 


IN    SIGHT    OF    THE    FOOTHILLS;     A    HALT    NEAR    TORO 


IN  THE  KABAKA'S  COUNTRY    97 

thought  he  could  get  us  all  the  porters  we  needed 
in  two  days,  and,  when  questioned  how  this  would 
be  possible,  went  on  to  state  that  his  mother  was 
a  sister  of  the  local  chief,  and  that  his  own  father 
was  a  chief  of  importance  in  the  Hoima  district  not 
far  away.  Armed  with  credentials  and  a  present, 
Ernesti  started  on  his  mission,  and  in  two  days,  true 
to  his  word,  returned  with  eighty  burden-bearers. 
But  his  mother's  brother  must  have  robbed  the  cradle 
and  the  grave,  for  they  ranged  apparently  from  boys 
of  sixteen  to  old  men  of  sixty.  The  D.C.  at  the  post 
was  astonished.  Usually  all  porters  at  this  time  of  the 
year  were  gathered  by  Government.  He  wondered 
how  we  had  accomplished  it,  and  I  dare  say  he  is  won- 
dering still ;  faintly  he  expressed  the  hope  that  we  had 
not  engaged  in  wholesale  bribery,  as  he  feared  it 
might  interfere  with  the  current  prices  paid  for  labour. 
We  really  got  them  cheaper  than  the  Government 
could.  It  was  one  of  those  occasions  when  a  personal 
pull  beats  red  tape.  As  the  dawdlers  from  Masindi 
had  not  all  arrived,  we  determined  to  make  use 
of  Ernesti's  contribution,  and  decided  to  go  on  a  fort- 
night's expedition  down  toward  Lake  George,  where, 
we  had  been  told,  it  was  possible  to  get  photographs 
of  elephants  in  the  open.  That  trip  takes  but  a 
short  space  to  describe. 

It  was  "  go  farther  and  fare  worse."  As  we 
progressed  we  found  it  more  and  more  difficult  to 
obtain  food,  for  crops  had  failed  and  the  too  well 
protected  elephants  had  raided  the  plantations.     When 


98  THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

we  reached  the  spot  where  we  were  told  we  would 
find  the  herds  in  the  open  country,  we  discovered 
we  were  three  days  late ;  the  natives  had  fired  the 
grass,  and  miles  and  miles  of  hurned  and  blackened 
veldt  confronted  us.  The  elephants  had  all  gone 
back  into  the  forests  and  the  hills.  Sadly  disappointed 
we  retraced  our  steps.  But  two  days  on  this  journey 
will  ever  linger  in  our  mind — Christmas  and  New 
Year's  Days.  We  spent  them  at  the  same  place,  one 
of  the  most  beautilul  spots  that  human  eye  has  ever 
seen.  We  reached  there  on  Christmas  Eve  on  our 
outward  journey,  and  on  New  Year's  Day  on  our 
return.  Lake  Llonga-llonga  is  one  of  those  liquid 
gems  that  Nature  seems  to  have  placed  in  exactly 
the  sort  of  setting  to  display  its  beauty.  It  is  a  little 
sheet  of  light  blue  crystal  lying  in  the  depths  of 
what  must  have  been  once  an  old  volcanic  crater.  It 
was  comparatively  a  new  discovery.  The  first  sight 
of  it  held  us  entranced,  for  we  had  been  travel- 
ling through  a  broken,  hilly  country,  burnt  and 
parched  from  the  lack  of  recent  rains,  and  there  from 
the  top  of  a  hill  we  looked  down  and  saw  the 
blue  sparkle  of  the  waters  surrounded  by  a  fringe  of 
forest  trees,  palms  and  hard  wood  mingled  — a  perfect 
sanctuary  for  bird  and  beast  and  man.  How  it 
rested  the  eye  to  look  at  the  deep  shadows,  the 
changing  hues  of  green,   and   the   blue  of  the  water. 

We  camped  on  the  steep  hillside,  and,  following 
thence  a  narrow  path,  went  down  through  the  forest 
to  the  water's  edge.      Here  we  found  a  little  hollowed- 


^-:t.-*1 


LAKE  LLONGA-LLONGA 


ON  LAKE  LLONGA-LLONGA 


IN   THE   KABAKA'S   COUNTRY  99 

out  log  canoe.  The  lake  and  the  shores  teemed  with 
life,  waterfowl  of  all  kinds  fluttered  and  swam  over 
the  surface,  mallard  and  teal,  geese,  grebes,  coots, 
dabchicks,  cormorants  and  snake  birds,  antl  liigh 
up  in  the  great  branches  the  white-headed  iish  eagles 
had  built  their  nests.  The  lake  was  lull  of  Iish 
resembling  silver  perch,  and  ranging  from  a  quarter 
to  two  pounds  in  \veight  ;  most  excellent  eating  they 
were.  They  jumped  clear  of  the  water  and  played 
like  lake  trout.  1  am  sure  they  would  have  taken 
the  fly,  but  they  were  not  backward  in  dashing  at 
the  grasshoppers  and  crickets  that  we  used  for 
bait. 

A  family  of  hippopotami  lived  at  the  eastern  end 
and  swam  about  in  the  morning  and  evening.  Not 
a  gun  had  been  fired  here,  and  1  am  glad  to  say 
we  did  not  break  the  stillness  and  desecrate  this 
little  corner  of  Eden,  but  we  got  some  beautiful 
photographs  that  more  than  repaid  us  for  what  we 
lost  in  the  Christmas  goose  or  duck  that  might  have 
adorned  our  table. 

Slowly  paddling  along  the  shore  we  got  very  close 
to  Nature's  heart.  Snake  birds  waited  with  outspread 
wings  until  we  were  so  close  that  we  could  see  their 
yellow  eyes,  hornbills  planed  from  one  tree  to  another, 
with  a  flight  much  like  that  of  a  small  boy's  paper  dart. 
Birds  like  magpies  scolded  and  chattered  overhead, 
and  the  most  brilliant  little  kingfishers,  feathered  like 
humming  birds,  flashed  past  us.  The  grebes  and 
little    waterfowl  scuttled  ahead  of  the  canoe  into  their 


100         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

hiding  places  in  the  reeds.  We  had  two  ahnost  per- 
fect days  that  repaid  us  for  the  scorching,  Iruitless 
journey  through  which  we   had  just  passed. 

On  this  trip  we  got  our  first  touch  of  the  forests, 
for  going  and  coming  we  passed  through  one  of  the 
arms  of  the  great  wood  that  extends  from  along  the 
foothills  of  the  Rewenzori  Mountains,  and  one  day  for 
the  space  of  twenty  minutes  the  enshrouding  clouds 
lifted,  and,  mirahile  dictu,  we  caught  a  glimpse  of 
the  gleaming  peaks  way  above  the  high,  forest- 
covered,  blue-grey  hills.  There  lay,  exposed  for  that 
fleeting  space  of  time,  nearly  thirty  miles  of  gleaming 
ice  and  snow!  Then  the  clouds  closed  down  and 
no  one  would  have  known  that  there  was  a  mountain 
within  a  thousand  miles.  Only  once  again  did  we 
see  them,  and  that  was  when  we  had  crossed  the 
northern  and  eastern  spurs  into  the  valley  of  the 
Semliki  River,  when  once  again  the  cloud  -  lifting 
phenomenon  occurred,  but  even  for  a  shorter  space 
of  time.  It  was  thus  that  Stanley  had  first  seen  them 
twenty-six  years  before  :  the  far-famed  and  mysterious 
Mountains  of  the  Moon,  the  Lunae  Montes  of 
Herodotus. 

Every  member  of  the  safari  was  tired.  1  would  not 
have  been  surprised  if  some  of  the  old  men  who  had 
accompanied  us  had  gone  •  much  against  their  will. 
Food  had  been  scarce,  hui  they  were  experts  on  the 
trail,  and  each  night  when  we  had  reached  a  new 
camping  place  their  little  village  of  grass  huts  would 
rise  like  mushrooms  out  of  the  ground.      Inside   half  an 


IN   THE    KABAKA'S   COUNTRY         loi 

hour  from  the  time  ot  halting  our  tculs  wouhl  he 
surrounded   with   tliem. 

When  we  ^ot  hack  to  Toro  tlie  rest  of  our  hizy 
porters  had  arriv'ed  from  Masindi,  and,  usin^  om-  per- 
sonal pull  again,  we  secured  nearly  a  hundred  men 
and  started  on  the  trail  for  Irumu.  Hut  hefore  we 
leave  Toro  let  me  relate  a  little  incident  that 
thoroughly  relutes  the  theory  of  a  renowned  medical 
gentleman  and  j^rofessor  who  proclaimed  it  his  helief 
that  the  man  who  passes  his  fortieth  year  had  better 
be  knocked  on  the  head  and  consigned  to  tlie  scrap 
heap.  It  is  most  encouraging  to  relate  it  when  one 
has  passed  that  baleful  climacteric.  There  had  drifted 
into  our  camp,  on  the  second  night  after  our  arrival, 
a  sturdy  little  figure,  with  a  grey  stubble  on  a  very 
determined  chin.  That  the  Emerald  Isle  could  claim 
him  as  a  wandering  son  w^as  evident  from  the  first 
words  he  spoke,  as  he  asked  if  there  was  not  "a 
jintleman  from  New  York  in  the  party."  Charles 
Malloy  was  our  visitor's  name,  and  he  had  gone  to 
California  with  the  "forty-niners"  to  look  for  gold, 
and,  bless  your  soul,  he  was  born  in  the  year  1828, 
and  he  was  still  looking  for  gold  on  the  slopes  of 
Rewenzori  !  He  referred  to  all  men  of  sixty  as 
"bhoys,"  and,  ascertaining  the  date  of  my  birth,  pro- 
claimed that  I  was  a  child  in   arms. 

We  cultivated  Mr.  Malloy,  in  fact  made  a  hobby 
of  him  during  our  stay  at  Toro.  He  was  a  living 
encyclopaedia  of  things  that  had  passed  away.  His 
memory    was    absolute,     his     opinions     dogmatic,    and 


102         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

his  exi^tressions  both  virile  and  picturesque.  To  hear 
him  he^in  "  In  1852  when  I  was  up  in  Vancouver  I 
had  a  great  experience  with  Siwash  Indians,"  and 
then  how  he  crossed  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  in  fifty- 
four,  and  liow  in  the  late  'sixties  and  early  'seventies 
he  built  houses  in  New  York  was  like  reading  the 
dustv  back  numbers  of  some  ancient  periodical.  He 
brought  the  past  up  to  date,  and  resurrected  people 
dead  and  gone  with  a  startling  quality  that  seemed 
to  make  them  still  alive.  He  had  been  in  Africa 
since  1875  "Sure,"  said  he,  "they  know  me  from 
Cape  Town  to  Kilo."     And   I   dare  say  they  did. 

When  the  angular  gentleman  with  the  scythe  and 
the  long  grey  chin  whisker  finds  Charlie  Malloy,  he 
will  find  him  with  a  prospector's  kit  on  his  back,  a 
hammer  in  one  hand  and  a  rock  drill  in  the  other. 
But  we  must  get  out  of  Toro,  and  leave  him  and  our 
good  friends  the  Government's  representatives  to  their 
labours,  their  golf  and  good  fortunes.  There  is  a  long 
journey  ahead. 


^^J^ 


THE    DESERTED    COUNTRY 


CROSSING    THE    FOOTHILLS    OK    THE    REWENZORl 


A    VILLAGE    BUILT    IN    HALl-'    AH    HOUR 


AFTER    THE    RAIN.    THE    WATCHED    POT    THAT    WOULD    NEVER    BOIL 


A    FORTY-NINER    ON     REWENZORI  .     THE    SCRIBE    AND 
CHARLES     MALLOY 


CHAPTER  VIII 

INTO    THP:    CONCiO    BELGE 

IN  three  days  we  had  crossed  the  north-eastern 
slopes  of  the  Rewenzori  and  had  bc^un  tlie  de- 
scent into  the  low-lying  plains  of  the  Sendiki.  In 
one  day's  march  we  dropped  some  two  thousand  five 
hundred  feet.  The  valley  is  overflowed  at  the  time 
of  the  great  rains,  and  is  at  best  hardly  more  than 
marshland,  and  must  in  times  past  have  been  the 
bottom  of  a  lake.  The  acrid  soil  grows  a  rough, 
hardy,  and  not  very  succulent  grass;  a  few  scattered 
specimens  of  euphorbia  and  acacia,  with  occasionally 
a  rather  sickly  palm  lifting  up  its  lonely  head,  were 
the  only  objects  that  broke  the  monotonous  view,  for 
the  slopes  to  east  and  west  were  hidden  in  the  low- 
hanging  mists. 

We  saw  here  a  very  beautiful  species  of  cob,  an 
antelope  with  golden  hide,  and  beautiful  curving  horns, 
akin  to  the  poko  of  Rhodesia.  Traces  of  the  black 
buffalo  were  evident,  but  once  across  the  Semliki 
they  are  few,  if  any,  their  place  being  taken  by  the 
smaller  brown  and  red  buffalo,  whose  habitat  extends 
into  the  Haut  Ituri.  The  weather  was  dreadfullv  hot 
— a  damp  heat  that  made  it  more  distressing  than  the 

torrid  weather  we  had  experienced  at  the  \Nater  holes. 

103 


I04         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

We  crossed  the  river  at  the  old  ferry  on  the 
Irumu  highway.  I  dare  say  that  the  canoes  that  took 
us  over  were  older  than  the  memory  of  man,  at 
least  any  man  thereahouts.  They  were  simply  aged 
and  decaying  logs,  through  whose  rotting  sides  it 
seemed  possible  to  poke  one's  finger.  The  river 
that  connects  Lake  Albert  Edward  with  Lake  Edward 
Nyanza  is  a  swift  muddy  stream  that  pursues  its  snake- 
like course  through  the  ancient  lake  bottom,  and  for 
many  miles  runs  close  to  the  foothills  of  the  Rewenzori. 
Its  steep,  muddy  banks  are  constantly  being  undermined 
and  washed  away.     The   river  teems  with  crocodile. 

After  pitching  our  camp  on  the  Belgian  side  we 
made  up  our  minds  to  secure  if  possible  some  pic- 
tures of  these  famous  Semliki  "crocs,"  and  w^e  fairly 
beHeved  that  we  secured  pictures  of  the  largest  ever 
taken.  There  was  a  sand-spit  not  far  below  our 
camping  place  where  they  were  wont  to  congregate, 
and  here  Kearton  put  up  a  blind  and  placed  the 
camera.  Crested  cranes,  heron,  and  sandpipers  were 
running  along  the  water's  edge,  when  suddenly  the 
first  saurian  appeared.  He  was  a  big  fellow,  perhaps 
eighteen  feet  long,  and  rested  with  his  mouth  wide 
open  while  the  birds  strutted  all  round  him.  Then 
another  appeared,  some  three  or  four  feet  longer,  and 
then  a  third  a  trifle  bigger  yet,  but  all  at  once  the 
grandfather  of  all  crocodiles  emerged  ;  he  made  those 
that  were  basking  there  look  like  shillings  compared 
to  a  crown  piece.  He  heaved  himself  up  from  the 
water  on  all  fours  with  his  tail   lifted   clear  and  curving 


POINTING     THK     WAY     TO    THE    SKMI.IKI 


,..K.*»«*a>''  ^irJ>- 


^ 


CROSSING    THE    SEMLIKl  :     VIEW     !■  ROM     THE     BELGIAN     SIDE 


y" 


C^  .. 


THE    HAUNT    OI'~    THE    CROCODH.E 


A    GOLIATH    AMONG    ■CRCCS." 


INTO   THE  CONGO   BELGE  105 

upward,  at  least  two  Icet  of  sjiacc  between  \\\^ 
immense  hulk  ami  the  sand.  He  was  like  some 
antediluvian  monster  of  the  reptilian  epoch.  As  far 
as  could  be  judged,  by  comparing  his  measurements 
with  objects  near  by,  he  was  close  to  thirty  feet  in 
length.  For  the  sake  of  natural  science  I  woidd  like 
to  have  applietl  a  tape  to  his  proportions.  After  seeing 
him  one  could  well  believe  the  story  of  a  drinking 
rhinoceros  being  caught  and  dragged  beneath  the 
surface  by  crocodiles,  as  Selous  has  recorded  in  one  of 
his  books. 

Hearing  that  elephant  were  in  the  vicinity  we 
decided  to  send  part  of  the  caravan  on  to  Irumu,  and 
with  some  forty  men  we  moved  north-west,  a  day's 
journey,  to  where  the  forests  converged  on  both  sides 
to  the  river  bank.  We  did  get  a  few  feet  of  film, 
and  possibly  if  we  could  liave  remained  in  the  vicinity 
we  could  have  secured  some  fine  pictures,  but  there 
were  reasons  why  our  stay  was  shortened. 

The  people  who  live  in  this  neighbourhood  are 
very  poor;  their  life  is  a  constant  struggle  for  existence. 
The  scanty  gardens  that  they  cultivate  in  the  poor  soil 
grow  sparse  crops  of  yams  and  sweet  potatoes.  They 
possess  but  few  banana  trees,  and  trade  with  the 
hill  natives,  exchanging  the  muddy,  coarse-tasting  river 
fish  for  the  nutritious  endesis.  There  are  no  villages 
worth  the  name — scattered  collections  of  four  or  five 
reed  huts,  where  the  combined  inhabitants  do  not 
number  over  twenty  or  thirty — and  their  herds  are  a 
mere  handful  of  scrawny  goats  and  kids. 


io6         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

We  pitclied  camp  near  one  of  these  little  hamlets, 
and  althoujrii  the  petty  chief  did  his  best  to  provide 
food  for  our  forty  men  it  was  easy  to  see  that  we 
would  soon  have  eaten  him  out  of  house  and 
home. 

"An  army,"  said  Napoleon,  "travels  on  its 
stomach,"  and  so  does  the  smallest  expedition  in 
Central  Africa,  although  a  civilised  army,  forced  to 
live  on  the  country,  would  starve  to  death  in  what 
might  appear  to  the  native  a  land  of  comparative 
plenty. 

We  despatched  a  contingent  to  the  hills  to  the 
westward,  to  see  if  they  could  not  purchase  or  secure 
a  few  days'  supply,  but  as  no  white  man  went  with 
them  they  decided  to  regard  the  excursion  as  a 
holiday,  and  I  dare  say  forgot  entirely  what  they 
were  sent  for.  At  all  events  as  a  foraging  expedition 
it  was  a  failure. 

About  three  miles  from  the  camp  the  forest  began, 
and  our  guides  took  us  to  a  little  glade  about  a  mile 
from  the  river  that  the  elephants  crossed  each  day  on 
their  way  to  the  water.  It  was  comparatively  open, 
but  as  it  was  the  grass-burning  season  the  veldt  fires 
had  invaded  the  edge  of  the  forest,  and  the  ground 
was  covered  with  a  thick  carpet  of  feathery,  grey-blue 
ash.  In  some  places  light  streamers  of  smoke  were  still 
rising  up  from  the  hardy  bush  tb.at  would  seem  to  be  im- 
pregnable to  the  hottest  fire.  The  prospects  looked 
bad,  indeed,  but  what  was  our  surprise  to  find  every- 
where   through    the    still  warm    ashes  the  great    round 


INTO  THE   CONGO   BELGE  107 

footprints  that  proved  that  a  herd  ot  elephant  had 
crossed  there  that  very  morning. 

A  few  big  trees  grew  in  the  ghide,  alforchiig  space 
in  their  great  lower  branches  for  a  hide-up  for  the 
cameras,  and  a  vantage  point  from  which  we  could 
watch  almost  the  whole  length  of  this  little  opening 
in  the  forest. 

After  some  difficulty  we  ensconced  ourselves  there, 
making  a  platform  of  reeds,  and  put  the  picture 
machines  in  place,  telling  the  camera  bearers  to  re- 
turn to  camp  and  come   back  for  us  in  four  hoius. 

It  was  early  it  the  morning,  and  as  yet  the  sun 
had  not  lifted  above  the  tops  of  the  trees.  Before  we 
had  been  there  an  hour  two  discoveries  were  made, 
one  by  ourselves  and  the  other  by  a  naked  savage 
who  lived  at  the  hamlet  where  our  camp  was  pitched. 
The  first  discovery  was  that  we  were  not  alone  in 
that  tree  ;  there  were  some  ants,  and  to  our  dismay 
we  found  that  they  were  the  belligerent,  never-say-die, 
count-no-odds  variety,  that  bury  their  short,  sharp 
nippers  in  one's  flesh  and  have  to  be  picked  ott  piece- 
meal, the  nippers  being  the  last  to  go,  leaving  a  red, 
stinging  reminder  of  their  presence. 

Kearton  was  below  me  on  the  branch,  and  acted 
as  a  sort  of  bulwark.  He  was  busy  as  a  boy  picking 
berries  for  a  wager,  and  I  was  not  altogether  idle, 
when  we  noticed  the  native  at  the  bottom  of  the 
tree.  He  was  pointing  towards  the  forest,  and  making 
frantic  gesticulations.  We  could  not  understand  his 
hoarse  whisper,  but  suddenly  he  dropped  his  spear 
13 


io8         THROUGH    CENTRAL   AFRICA 

and  began  a  pantomime.  It  was  the  best  imitation  of 
an  elephant  that  I  have  ever  seen ;  he  swayed  from 
side  to  side  with  botli  arms  held  straight  in  front  of 
him,  fingers  close  together,  and  we  saw  that  he  meant 
ito  convey  the  idea  that  there  was  a  large  bull  ele- 
phant near  by.  He  jwinted  to  the  express  rille  that 
I  had  placed  in  th€  crotch  of  the  tree,  and  by  gestu'-e 
implored  us  to  get  it  and  come  with  him.  What  we 
w^ere  doing  up  there  wath  all  those  tunny  looking 
boxes  he  could  not  imagine.  All  white  men  to  the 
native's  mind  fear  nothing,  and  consequently  when  a 
native  is  with  the  Musungo  qua  hnnduki,  the  "white 
man  with  a  gun,"   he  is  also  comparatively  fearless. 

I  am  afraid  that  the  "pale  face"  fell  to  zero  in  this 
particular  savage's  estimation.  For  climbing  farther 
up  the  tree  I  could  see  a  splendid  bull  standing  half 
in  and  half  out  of  the  forest,  about  two  hundred 
yards  aw^ay,  and  out  of  range  of  the  camera.  He 
had  magnificent  tusks  that  would  probably  go  over  a 
hundred  pounds  apiece.  It  was  a  rare  chance  for  the 
ivory  hunter,  for  the  wind  was  blow^ing  from  his  direc- 
tion, and  it  would  have  been  quite  possible  with  the 
surrounding  cover  to  have  got  within  a  hundred  feet 
of  him  unobserved.  We  could  not  get  that  con- 
founded native  to  go  away.  I  indulged  in  some 
pantomime  on  my  ow  n  part,  but  he  could  not  under- 
stand. Still  beckoning,  he  disappeared  in  the  direction 
oi  the  big  bull ;  we  could  see  him  emerge  at  intervals, 
waving  his  hand  above  the  bushes  imploringly.  The 
idea  seized    me    that    perhaps    he   was  going   to   attack 


Si 


THE    WELL-CLEARED    AVENUE     APPROACH    TO     A     VILLAGE 


INTO  THE   CONGO   BELGE  109 

the  animal  with  a  spear  alone.  At  all  events  he  stood 
a  good  chance  of  driving  the  herd  hack  into  the 
wood,  for  there  were  others  with  the  hull,  a  fact 
that  we  were  now  certain  of,  from  the  crashing  and 
tearing  of  branches,  that  was  distinctly  audible.  After 
live  minutes'  absence  the  thick-headed  numskull 
appeared  again,  grinned  at  us  contemptuously,  and  with 
a  disdainful  gesture  shouldered  his  spear  and  marched 
ofi  in  the  direction  of  the  village,  probably  to  spread 
a  report  of  our  cowardice. 

"I  don't  know  that  I  can  stand  this  much  longer," 
whispered  Kearton  to  me,  as  I  looked  down  at  him. 
He  was  apparently  afflicted  with  St.  Vitus's  dance  in 
every  limb  and  portion  of  his  anatomy,  and  before 
long  I  had  caught  it  also.  It  was  pick,  slap,  scratch, 
search,  and  still  they  came. 

Those  ants  were  all  over  us  ;  they  worked  their  way 
into  the  most  unexpected  crevices  and  openings;  they 
poured  up  our  sleeves,  down  our  backs,  into  our  hair; 
it  seems  almost  as  if  they  came  through  the  soles  of 
our  boots;  and  bite,  my  aunt,  didn't  they  bite!  In  the 
midst  of  it  four  or  five  young  cow  elephants  emerged 
from  the  forest  and  placidly  shuffled  toward  a  little 
patch  of  bushes  not  thirty  yards  away.  The  heroism 
displayed  by  the  Photographer  was  worthy  of  a  medal 
of  the  first  class.  With  ants  on  his  whiskers,  and 
ants  on  his  nose,  and  ants  at  every  buttonhole,  he 
stood  up  and  started  the  aeroscope,  and  did  secure  a 
few  feet  of  film.  Whether  the  cows  heard  the  slight 
purring  of    the  instrument,   it  might    be  hard  to  state, 


no         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

but  they  accelerated  their  pace,  and  guiding  the 
Httle  ones  with  their  trunks  they  disappeared  into  a 
donga  behind  the  bushes.  If  they  had  been  a  herd 
of  wild  bulls  it  would  have  made  no  difference,  we 
could  not  stay  in  that  tree !  Kearton  went  first  and 
I  followed  him,  and  no  two  small  boys  arriving  late 
at  a  swimming  hole  were  ever  swifter  or  more  -care- 
less in  discarding  outer  habiliments  than  we  were 
when  we  reached  the  ground.  We  did  not  reckon 
dangers,  we  counted  nothing,  least  of  all  the 
ants  that  we  swept  from  various  portions  of  our 
anatomy. 

Leiving  some  of  our  belongings  up  the  tree,  we 
went  back  to  camp. 

Next  morning  we  were  there  again  before  sunrise, 
armed  with  two  bottles  of  parafBn,  mixed  with  salt 
and  pepper,  with  which  we  carefully  painted  the  tree 
in  the  hopes  of  creating  a  neutral  zone  between  us  and 
the  ants,  who  were  bound  to  be  stirring  as  the  heat 
of  the  day  came  on,  and  the  heat  did  come  along 
before  nine  o'clock ;  the  limbs  of  that  sparsely-fledged 
tree  resolved  themselves  into  the  bars  of  a  gridiron, 
and  like  slices  of  bacon  we  fairly  began  to  curl  up  at 
the  edges.  Our  friends  the  ants  were  at  first  a  little 
nonplussed  by  the  paraffin  and  salt  and  pepper.  Up 
the  base  of  the  tree  they  had  arrayed  themselves  by 
brigade,  battalion,  quarter  column,  en  echelon^  and  in 
all  military  formations.  Then  they  called  up  the 
sappers,  miners,  and  engineers,  bridged  and  mined 
the  obstructions,   and    were    on    us    again,   and    just    as 


INTO  THE   CONGO    BELGE  iii 

they  be^an  their  attack  a  herd  of  ei^ht  voiin^  hulls 
and   five   or  six  cows  emerged    from   the   forest. 

Heroically  we  made  ready  to  ^et  our  pictures,  foi 
they  were  coming  nearer.  Suddenly  they  stopped 
out  of  camera  range,  stood  there  in  line,  and  then 
like  great  grey  ghosts  shuffled  noiselessly  hack,  and 
disappeared.  We  had  lost  that  chance  also,  the  reason 
for  which  we  discovered  when  we  found  that  a 
member  of  our  party,  who  had  come  down  to  the 
tree  with  us  in  the  morning,  had  sheltered  himself 
under  an  umbrella,  and  was  lying  there,  in  fidl  view, 
fast  asleep.  The  elephants  had  approached  within 
forty  feet  of  him,  and  both  seeing  and  winding  the 
strange  object  had  decided  to  take  another  wav  to 
the  water. 

Disgusted,  tired,  and  thoroughly  beaten,  we  gave 
it  up,   broke   camp,   and  took  up  the  trail   to   Irumu. 

Although  the  trail  was  good,  it  was  hard  going  ; 
there  was  no  shade,  and  it  was  up  hill  and  down 
dale  all  the  way.  I  felt  sorry  for  the  heavilv-laden 
porters.  They  had  been  practically  on  half  rations, 
and  although  there  w^as  plenty  of  food  waiting  for 
them  at  the  end  of  the  journey  they  showed  no  dis- 
position to  press  on.  In  the  mornings  it  was  hard 
work  to  get  them  together  for  an  early  start,  and  no 
effort  of  ours  prevented  them  from  straggling  and 
dropping  behind. 

When  we  reached  Boga,  that  was  once  <ui  impor- 
tant Belgian  post  and  the  frontier  Custom  House — 
alas,   now  fallen  from    its    high    estate,   being    the   resi- 


112         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

dence  of  a  medical  inspector,  who  from  appearance 
shotdd  have  placed  himself  on  the  sick  list  and  ordered 
himself  an  immediate  vacation — we  halted.  An  ivory 
trader  informed  us  that  there  were  plenty  of  elephants 
to  be  found  south  of  Boga  on  the  old  Beni  road, 
that  the  country  was  open  and  we  could  possibly  get 
photographs  of  them  there.  We  decided  to  make  a 
try  at  it,  and  after  a  day's  rest  we  informed  the 
nmpara  of  the  intended   detour. 

When  the  porters  were  told  of  our  intention  they 
held  a  meeting,  and  there  must  have  been  a  black 
labour  leader  among  them,  for  they  immediately 
decided  to  strike.  They  were  quite  within  their 
grounds,  however,  a  fact  that  we  were  forced  to 
acknowledge,  as  we  had  only  engaged  them  to  take 
us  from  Toro  to  Irumu,  a  two  weeks'  journey,  and 
had  said  nothing  about  any  side  marches.  We  had 
heard  the  row  going  on  in  the  big  rest  shed,  and  we 
knew  that  something  was  in  the  air.  Our  boys  soon 
brought  the  news  to  us. 

How  Africans  ever  transact  any  business  at  all 
is  a  wonder.  Everybody  talks  at  once,  and  no  one 
seems  to  be  listening.  If  every  man  makes  himself 
heard  at  the  same  time  as  the  others  the  convention 
appears  satisfied.  At  last  they  seemed  to  arrive  at  a 
unanimous  conclusion,  and  sent  word  to  us  that  the 
strike  was  on.  Having  some  chairs  brought  out  we 
called  a  meeting  in  turn.  As  it  would  not  do  for  all 
to  speak  at  once  in  this  case  they  appointed  a  spokes- 
man, and  Ernesti  acted  as  interpreter.     The  orator,  a 


i^r^  : 

t            ,                        ^|-"m 

Wfc. 

»" 

INTO  THE   CONGO   BELGE  113 

big  hulking  fellow,  began  his  harangue.  He  talked 
for  nearly  ten  minutes,  and  Ernesti  summed  it  up  in 
ten  words.  "They  won't  go,  bwana,"  he  said, 
"  They  want  to  go  to  Irumu  as  fast  as  they  can  and 
return  to  Uganda." 

Anyone  dealing  with  the  Central  African  must 
keep  two  or  three  things  in  his  mind.  The  first  is 
never  to  lose  his  temper,  and  the  second  is  that  he 
is  only  dealing  with  a  lot  of  great,  black,  ungrown-up 
children,  and  a  third,  and  perhaps  little-known  bit  of 
information,  is  that  the  one  thing  they  are  most  sus- 
ceptible to  is  ridicule.  Cursing  and  loud  talk, 
bluster  and  threat,  avail  little  compared  to  a  pointed 
shaft  of  sarcasm. 

I  said  a  few  w^ords  to  Ernesti,  which  he  translated 
in  the  Hoima  tongue. 

"The  master  says  he  wishes  you  to  talk  some  more, 
he  likes  to  hear  you  talk,  you  talk  very  well."  Some 
of  the  other  would-be  orators  looked  at  the  spokesman, 
and  smiled  sickly  grins.  He  was  a  little  bit  embar- 
rassed ;  but,  not  to  be  done  out  of  it,  began  another 
long  harangue. 

"Tell  him,  Ernesti,"  said  I,  "that  he  talks  better 
than  he  works.  He  must  be  very  tired.  Give  him  the 
smallest  load,   and  start  him  on  to   Irumu  at  once." 

The  black  orator  was  not  a  general  favourite  I 
could  see,  for  when  this  was  translated  several  began  to 
laugh.  Another  man  took  his  place.  He  talked,  and 
talked  himself  out,  and  under  instructions  Ernesti 
spoke  as  follows. 


114         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

"Tlie  bwana  says  that  he  can  see  you  are  old  and 
weak.     You   can   go  on  with  the  other." 

The  second  speaker  was  perhaps  the  strongest  man 
in  the  outfit,  he  could  have  carried  a  piano  on  the 
top  of  his  head,   and  thought  nothing  of  it. 

Well,  to  make  it  short,  we  asked  that  all  the 
"women  and  children"  should  step  out  and  declare 
themselves,  and  they  could  also  go  on  with  the  two 
poor  old  men.  The  rest  who  chose  to  remain  and  go 
with  us  on  a  two-days'  trip  would  get  half  a  rupee 
extra  apiece  and  double  rations ;  the  result  was  that 
they  all  came.  The  strike  was  broken.  At  daybreak 
the  next  morning  we  were  off  to  the  southward. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   TALL   GRASS    COUNTRY 

THE  Belgian  authorities  make  a  large  show  of 
being  cautious  in  regard  to  the  introduction  ot 
contagious  diseases  into  the  Congo.  A  quarantine  is 
established  at  the  frontier  post,  and  each  porter  w  lio 
comes  from  Uganda  is  supposed  to  carry  with  him  a 
certificate  of  good  health  issued  by  the  Govern- 
ment doctor  at  Toro.  Both  of  these  ceremonies  seem 
to  have  degenerated  into  a  mere  matter  of  form.  There 
is  really  no  telling  how  many  natives  move  across  the 
boundary  each  day  ;  in  fact,  very  often  a  whole  village 
will  alter  its  allegiance  from  the  British  to  the  Belgian 
flag  (this  generally  about  the  time  of  the  attempt  to 
collect  the  hut  tax),  then  if  they  do  not  like  the  Belgian 
treatment  they  will  move  back  again.  The  boundary 
line  has  been  altered  and  changed,  and  many  of  the 
small  chiefs  hardly  know  which  flag  they  are  under,  and 
do  not   care  so  long  as  they  are  left  alone. 

We  were  heading  for  a  small  village  about  sixteen 
miles  to  the  south-west,  where  the  chief  was  a  friend 
of  the  ivory  trader  who  had  directed  us.  The  countrv 
we  passed  through  resembled  a  huge  field  that  had 
been  cross-furrowed    by  a  gigantic  plough.     It  was  up 

one  ridge  and  down  another,  steep  ascents  and  descents, 

115 


ii6         THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

and  rough  going  all  the  time.  Our  guide  took  us  to 
the  wrong  village,  and  we  ended  up  in  a  most  poverty- 
stricken  little  valley  where  it  was  very  evident  the 
people  had  been  drinking  malwa  (a  fermented  con- 
coction of  bananas  and  grain)  recently,  for  they  looked 
quite  dull  and  besotted. 

We  changed  our  direction,  having  to  climb  some 
more  steep  ascents,  and  at  last  reached  the  village 
for  wh  ch  we  had  set  out.  It  was  perched  in  a 
little  hollow  on  the  top   of  a  high  hill. 

We  ordered  our  tents  to  be  pitched  on  the  very 
summit.  The  chief,  who  rules  over  some  five  or  six 
hundred  people,  had  quite  a  pretentious  house  sur- 
rounded by  a  score  of  well-built  huts.  Accompanied 
by  his  cabinet  ministers,  he  met  us  in  a  little  open 
space  in  the  centre  of  his  tiny  capital.  With  him 
was  his  standing  army  and  police  force,  a  thickset 
native  in  a  soldier's  old  uniform,  carrying  a  muzzle- 
loading  musket  that  could  not  have  been  discharged 
except  with  a  slow  match.  Possibly  it  had  been  used 
as  a  crowbar  at  a  no  distant  period,  or  it  may  have 
been  intended  to  shoot  round  a  corner,  but  the 
soldier  was  quite  as  proud  of  the  sorry  affair  as  if 
it  had  been  a  modern    product  of  the    best  gun  shop. 

The  chief,  who  proved  to  be  a  very  intelligent 
young  man,  about  thirty,  expressed  himself  as  being 
very  fond  of  the  English,  and  after  receiving  a  few 
presents,  declared  that  we  had  come  to  the  right 
place  to  get  elephant;  they  were  constantly  raiding 
his    plantations,    and    that    almost  every  day   they  were 


markp:t   place,  boga 


INTERVIEW    WITH    CHIEF    OF    THE    HILL-TOP    VILLAGE 


PRESENTS    FROM     THE    CHIEF'S    GARDEN 


THE  TALL   GRASS   COUNTRY         117 

to  he  seen.  He  then  went  minutely  into  the  state 
of  his  health,  and  asked  for  some  dowa  tliat  wouhl 
cure  him  and  his  favourite  wife,  who  also  apjieared 
to  be  somewhat  under  the  weather.  As  one  medicine 
seems  to  act  as  well  as  another  with  the  African  we 
made  him  up  a  mixture  that  would  at  least  do  him 
no  harm,  and  the  next  day  he  reported  that  b(jth 
he  and  his  spouse  were   feeling   much  improved. 

The  view  from  the  hill  where  we  had  pitched 
camp  was  magnificent,  although  the  Rewenzori  range, 
now  to  the  east  of  us,  was  hid  in  the  clouds. 
Successions  of  sweeping  hills,  dotted  with  \illages 
and  plantations,  stretched  away  toward  the  valley  of 
the  Semliki  that,  shrouded  in  the  low-lying  mists, 
looked  like  a  wide  lake  shimmering  in  the  sunlight. 
Far  to  the  south  could  be  seen  an  arm  of  the  great 
forest,  a  black  mass  indented  by  numerous  grassy 
glades,  A  spring  of  cold  clear  water  was  just  over 
the  brow  of  the  hill.  It  was  an  ideal  place  for  a 
camp  from  all  appearances. 

At  our  request  our  friend,  the  chief,  sent  out 
scouts  with  orders  to  report  back  at  once  should 
they  find  any  elephant  in  the  vicinity.  We  had  made 
a  mistake  in  opening  our  medicine  chest  so  early  in 
the  day;  before  nightfall  we  were  besieged  by  would- 
be  patients  suffering  from  every  known  or  imaginary 
disease  under  the  sun ;  in  fact,  we  could  have  started 
a  good-sized  sanatorium  on  the  top  of  that  hill.  The 
most  famous  cure-all  that  1  can  recommend  to  African 
travellers    is    a    spoonful    of  aqua   piiva    flavoured    with 


ii8        THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

a  drop  or  so  of  Jamaica  ginger;  at  least  it  appeared 
to  work  well  in  cases  of  headache,  backache,  pains 
in  the  chest,  rheumatism,  abscess  in  the  ear,  swollen 
knees,  and  all  kindred  diseases.  Just  after  dinner  we 
had  a  real  sufferer  on  our  hands.  It  was  no  less 
than  one  of  our  own  party,  who  by  some  inadvertence 
has  hitherto  escaped  mention.  Mike,  our  pet  mon- 
key, out  of  ennui,  desperation,  or  home-sickness,  had 
eaten  the  best  part  of  a  box  of  safety  matches,  and 
was    in    a   very    bad  way. 

Mike  had  joined  us  at  Kampala,  and  so  far  had 
been  the  leader  of  the  expedition.  Mike  was  a  lady, 
to  tell  the  truth,  and  had  been  named  under  mis- 
apprehension ;  she  was  a  monkey  of  decided  indi- 
viduality, and,  unlike  the  reputation  attributed  to 
most  of  her  sex,  she  was  consistent  in  her  likes  and 
dislikes,  and  absolutely  reliable  as  to  her  habits.  She 
would  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  of  the  blacks, 
and  only  permitted  Ernesti  to  touch  her.  She  was 
very  fond  of  Kearton,  and,  when  he  was  not  present, 
she  condescended  to  take  some  notice  of  me.  When 
the  safari  was  on  the  march  Mike  would  linger  round 
until  we  had  started,  and  then  with  a  rush  was  ofif 
with  the  very  head  of  the  column,  a  position  that 
she  maintained  all  day,  only  coming  back  to  see  us 
at  meal  times.  Possessed  of  none  of  the  pilfering 
habits  of  her  tribe,  Mike's  one  weakness  was  matches. 
With  the  aid  of  sweet  oil  and  hot  milk  we  pulled 
her  through  two  or  three  cases  of  over-indulgence. 
On  this  occasion   we   saved  her   by   the  very   narrowest 


THE   TALL  GRASS   COUNTRY         119 

margin,  and  for  a  few  days  Mike  was  missing  from 
tlie  head  of  the  column,  and  was  carried  along  in 
a  basket.  The  poor  little  beast  succumbed  later 
to  an  attack  of  pneumonia  when  aliuost  at  the 
end  of  our  journey,  after  having  travelled  on  foot 
with    us    for    nearly    eight    hundred    miles. 

The  scouts  sent  out  by  the  chief  reported  no  ele- 
phants the  next  day,  and  we  rested  in  camp,  but 
toward  evening  we  had  a  decided  diversion. 

About  four  or  five  o'clock  heavy  black  clouds 
began  to  gather  in  the  north-east,  and  the  barometer 
dropped  alarmingly.  The  light  effects  were  most 
astonishing.  The  evening  sun,  piercing  through  the 
mist,  illuminated  everything  with  a  yellowish  green 
light  ;  occasionally  bright  shafts  shining  down  into 
the  valley,  while  the  great  bank  of  clouds,  hanging 
low,  appeared  in  successive  lines  of  grey  and  a  darkish 
blue.  High  overhead  there  seemed  to  be  a  swirling 
mass  of  opaque  vapours,  with  here  and  there  black 
fringes  dropping  down  like  the  trailing  ends  of  a 
velvet  curtain.  The  breeze  that  had  been  blowing 
died  away.  Kearton  endeavoured  to  take  a  photograph 
of  the  wonderful  efifect,  but  no  camera  could  have 
done  justice  to  the  weird  scene.  Suddenly  a  great 
flash  of  lightning  came  out  of  the  densest  cloud,  the 
thunder  began  to  roll,  and  the  electrical  display,  once 
started,  was  continuous.  The  natives  had  ail  left  the 
fields,  and  our  porters  were  standing  silent  around 
their  extemporised  grass  shelters.  There  came  a  pre- 
liminary whiff  of  cold  wind,  and  the  oncoming  clouds 


I20         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

seemed  to  burst  as  if  gashed  with  a  great  knife.  Up 
the  hills  towards  us  advanced  a  solid  wall  of  falling 
water,  prefaced  by  a  few  big  drops.  We  ran  to  the 
tents.  Such  a  deluge  as  now  came  on  we  had  nevei 
seen  before,  and  but  once  since.  Everything  was 
blotted  out.  It  grew  suddenly  dark,  and  objects  one 
hundred  feet  away  were  barely  distinguishable.  After 
that  first  torrential  outburst  there  came  the  wind.  No 
creation  of  canvas,  rope  and  pegs  could  stand  it. 
Before  we  ourselves  could  haul  down  the  tents  they 
went  of  their  own  accord,  the  ridge  pole  over  my 
head  snapped  in  two,  and  I  struggled  out  from 
beneath  the  soaking  canvas  to  be  met  by  the  wild 
hurricane.  It  was  not  the  wind  alone,  for  hurtling 
volleys  of  ice  accompanied  it,  hailstones  that  nearly 
knocked  one  senseless.  It  was  almost  frightening. 
The  tents  were  flapping  close  to  the  ground,  tearing 
out  the  few  remaining  pegs ;  camp-chairs,  buckets, 
cooking  utensils  were  rolling  in  all  directions.  It 
looked  as  if  we  were  going  to  be  destroyed. 

Wrapping  a  soaking  blanket  round  my  head,  I 
flung  myself  on  the  top  of  the  tent,  endeavouring  to 
keep  it  in  place.  Kearton,  in  a  heavy  overcoat,  was 
endeavouring  to  shelter  the  cameras.  Not  a  porter 
came  to  our  assistance.  For  the  most  part  they  were 
lying  under  the  ruins  of  their  little  huts,  shrieking  in 
terror.  On  their  naked  bodies  the  hailstones  would 
have  been  like  volleys  of  grape  shot.  They  would 
have  been   mowed  down. 

The  pandemonium  lasted    for   about    five    minutes, 


AFTER    THE    STORM 


kklLMiA 

ai^P^Mvli 

^^mf. 

1^ 

pp.  y 

w^ 

WHAT    THE    HURRICANE    LEFT    OF    OUR    CAMP 


THE  TALL  GRASS  COUNTRY         121 

and  then  stopped  almost  as  suddenly  as  it  hail  he^un. 
To  save  ourselves  we  could  not  helj-)  hut  lau^h  as  we 
surveyed  the  wreck  and  ruin.  Beaten  and  frightened, 
with  melancholy  cries  the  porters  emerged  from 
their  hiding  places.  They  could  not  understand 
what  we  saw  in  the  situation  to  laugh  at,  and,  most 
curious  thing  of  all,  while  we  could  still  see  the 
hurricane  tearing  ofif  to  the  south,  the  sun  broke 
through  a  great  red  slit  in  the  hank  of  the  western 
clouds,  and  everything  turned  to  a  roseate,  permeating 
glow. 

The  village,  sheltered  under  the  brow  of  the  hill, 
had  not  suffered  in  the  same  way  that  we  had  on 
the  crest.  The  chief's  bodyguard  struggled  up  the 
path  and  gave  a  hasty  look  around  him.  Immediately 
he  began  to  wring  his  hands,  gasping  in  consterna- 
tion, "Oh,  bwana,  bwana,"  then,  seized  with  an  idea, 
he  started  off  on  the  run,  coming  back  with  a  huge 
drum  depending  from  his  shoulders.  Standing  on 
the  top  of  the  hill  he  began  drumming  out  a  call, 
interspersing  his  thumping  with  shrill  screams.  We 
looked  around  us.  From  the  village  and  from  the 
scattered  huts  in  the  valle}^  men  came  up  on  the 
run.  Other  drums  now^  began  to  take  up  the  beat- 
ing. Strange  to  say,  most  of  the  warriors  were  armed 
with  spears,  whether  the  drummer  in  his  excitement 
had  beaten  the  war  cry  or  not,  I  cannot  answer, 
but  for  fully  twenty  minutes  they  arrived  from  every- 
where. There  were  so  many  of  them  that  they  were 
actually   in    the    way,    but    in    a   very    little    time    our 


122         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

things  were  collected,  although  some  had  been  blown 
quite   half  a  mile    down  the   hillside. 

It  was  our  first  experience  of  an  African   hurricane. 

Poor  little  Mike  was  dug  out  from  under  the 
wreck  more  dead  than  alive,  and  it  was  late  at  night 
before  we  had    dried    things  sufficiently  to  go  to  bed. 

The  next  afternoon  word  was  brought  in  that  a 
small  herd  of  elephant  were  but  a  short  distance 
away.  We  judged  from  what  the  messenger  said  that 
we  could  reach  them  in  about  twenty  minutes;  but 
never  trust  an  African's  judgment  as  to  time  or 
space. 

We  started  off  at  top  speed,  and  after  travelling 
for  an  hour  our  guide  showed  no  indication  of  fatigue, 
but  grinned  encouragingly,  and  stated  we  were  now 
very  close,  so  we  went  on  for  another  three-quarters 
of  an  hour.  From  the  top  of  the  hill  the  low  valleys 
that  we  w^ere  now  entering  looked  like  fields  of  grain, 
but  they  proved  to  be  wide  stretches  of  elephant 
grass,  and  a  man  to  look  over  the  top  would  have 
had  to  stand  some  sixteen  feet  high,  and  wear  heavy 
soles  on  his  boots.  In  some  places  the  paths  were 
nothing  more  than  tunnels  in  the  dense  bamboo-like 
growth. 

That  there  were  elephant  in  the  neighbourhood 
was  plain  to  be  seen  ;  they  had  crossed  the  paths  in 
a  dozen  different  directions,  and  at  the  small  stream 
the  impress  of  the  big  cushioned  feet,  with  the 
peculiar  sole  markings,  showed  that  they  had  prob- 
ably been  there  that  very  day. 


THE   TALL   GRASS   COUNTRY  123 

It  was  frijjjhtfull}^  hot  in  the  damp,  close  atmo- 
sphere ;  the  perspiration  streamed  from  every  pore. 
Suddenly  we  met  a  native  with  a  spear  who  seemed 
to  be  in  waiting  for  us.  Chmbing  up,  we  came  out 
on  a  ridge  where  the  grass  was  not  quite  so  liigh, 
and  there,  following  his  pointing  finger,  we  saw  a  herd 
of  about  ten  elephants.  They  were  on  the  move,  and 
it  looked  as  if  they  would  pass  quite  close  to  us,  and 
about  forty  feet  below.  As  they  came  through  the 
tall  grass  with  their  great  ears  laid  back  against  their 
shoulders,  and  their  trunks  held  high,  they  looked  like 
enormous  black  swan,  swimming  through  the  sedge. 
But  when,  almost  directly  opposite,  a  slight  wind  sjMang 
up,  it  unfortunately  carried  down  our  scent.  They 
halted,  and  we  perceived  that  they  were  mostly  cows, 
some  with  calves  not  more  than  three  or  four  months 
old.  They  were  within  range  of  the  camera,  and 
Kearton  began  to  turn  the  handle. 

An  idea  seized  me  that  perhaps  I  could  discover 
a  spot  closer  to  them,  and  w^here  our  wind  would 
not  reach  them.  With  my  gun-bearer  I  set  off  to 
the  left  following  one  of  the  elephant  paths  to  the 
grass.  In  a  minute  I  was  out  of  sight,  and  I  do  not 
think  that  I  had  gone  more  than  three  hundied  yards, 
when  I  came  to  a  place  where  a  very  new  track 
crossed  the  one  that  I  was  following.  Ten  steps 
along  this  trail,  and  I  decided  that  I  would  not  go 
any  farther.  There  standing  facing  me  with  ears  out- 
spread, about  a  hundred  feet  away,  was  a  cow  with 
a   little    elephant    between     her    forelegs.      I   could    not 


124         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

imagine  that  they  did  not  see  me.  Abdul,  the  gun- 
bearer,  sHd  the  express  rifle  into  my  reaching  hand. 
The  cow  dropped  her  trunk  and  pushed  the  httle 
one  aside.  I  thought  then  we  were  in  for  it.  There 
came  a  gentle  tug  at  the  back  of  my  shirt.  It  was 
Abdul.  He  beckoned  me  to  come  away.  We 
backed  out  of  that  neighbourhood  as  softly  as  we 
could. 

There  were  doubtless  other  elephants  close  to,  but 
so  thick  was  the  grass  that  one  could  almost  have 
walked  on  top  of  a  standing  herd  before  one  knew  it. 

We  made  our  way  up  the  hill  to  where  Kearton 
had  placed  the  camera,  on  the  top  of  an  old  ants' 
nest,  and  we  did  not  know  how  close  we  were  to 
the  rest  of  the  party  until  we  heard  voices  talking  in 
half    whispers  not  ten  feet  from  us. 

The  light  was  fast  disappearing,  and  we  had  to 
be  content  with  the  few  feet  of  film  that  we  had 
taken.  It  was  a  long  and  wearisome  tramp  back  to 
our  camp,  and  nightfall   by  the   time  we  reached  there. 

The  next  morning  we  were  off  for  Irumu. 


CHAPTER  X 

IRUMU 

UP  to  this  time  we  had  really  encountered  no 
"savages"  whose  outward  appearance,  habits, 
and  customs  had  not  to  a  certain  extent  been  changed 
or  restricted  by  contact  with  the  white  man.  Even 
the  naked  Kavirondos  had  swallowed  both  their  pride 
and  their  modesty,  and  condescended  to  put  on  some 
clothing  at  least  when  near  the   line  of  the    railway. 

The  men  and  women  of  Uganda  wore  most  of 
their  earthly  possessions  on  their  backs,  and  even 
made  some  attempt  to  follow  a  prevailing  fashion. 
But  the  first  people  whom  we  met  on  the  Irumu  trail, 
the  Bahema — ex-cannibals,  by  the  way — seemed  to  be 
absolutely  in  their  primitive  state.  They  wear  no 
"trade  stufif"  of  any  description;  in  fact,  they  wear 
very  little  worth  mentioning;  their  ornaments,  knives, 
belts,  and  weapons  are  all  of  native  workmanship. 
There  were  no  glass  beads  or  gaudy  wrappings  of 
"Amerikani"  or  cheap  print  cloth  in  evidence.  Iron 
and  copper  wire  is  forged  with  much  skill  into 
decorations  for  the  neck,  arms,  and  ankles.  The 
women  invariably  carry  a  large  knile,  with  a  blade 
shaped  like  an  acacia  leaf,  thrust  in  a  cord  round 
their    waist.      Their    cooking    is    done    in    large    clay 

1^5 


126         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

pots  of  native  workmanship  with  rutlinientary  designs, 
but  we  saw  no  potters  at  work  and  no  evidence  of 
any  industry. 

They  are  a  fine  race  of  magnificently  built  savages, 
and  as  we  passed  through  their  villages  we  noticed 
that  their  huts  and  surroundings  were  kept  immaculately 
clean  ;  there  was  no  litter  of  old  paraffin  tins  and  the 
general  rubbish  that  we  had  been  accustomed  to  see 
in  the  villages  of  East  Africa.  The  women  perform 
most  of  the  labour,  and  how  the  men  could  maintain 
their  magnificent  physique  and  muscular  develop- 
ment without  undertaking  any  exercise  at  all  was 
astonishing. 

A  number  of  our  porters  were  sick,  two  or  three 
suffering  with  bad  coughs  and  colds,  the  result  of  the 
exposure  of  the  hillside.  We  were  forced  to  send 
some  of  them  back,  but  we  could  not  persuade  a 
single  Bahema  to  carry  a  load.  They  looked  with 
contempt  at  our  human  beasts  of  burden,  and  held 
aloof  from  them  entirely.  The  women  scowled  at  us, 
and  the  children  disdained  to  notice  our  friendly 
advances. 

It  is  curious  how  quickly  one  grows  used  to  seeing 
facial  disfigurement.  The  Bahema  females  in  their 
endeavour  to  improve  upon  nature  indulge  in  novel 
elTects  of  lip  ornamentation.  The  upper  lip  is 
pierced  for  a  number  of  small  wooden  plugs  that, 
taken  with  another  skewer-like  bit  of  wood  running 
through  the  nostrils,  would  destroy  the  most 
charming  smile  and  pleasing  expression  in  the  world. 


«i*.' 


BAHKMA    BELLES 


'--'^■-MCi:* 


^^^/                *" '^iQ^B^B^K^KS 

■n^iPlf 

ii 

i 

A>:- 

— : 

" 

U^ 

-         ,  v^ 

THE    CHIEF'S    HUT    IN    A    BAHEMA    VU  LACK 


IRUMU  127 

The  men,  who  do  not  scar  or  disfigure  themseh^es 
at  all,  appeared  hy  far  the  hetter  looking.  Ocklly 
enough,  during  the  whole  of  the  trip  we  saw  hut  two 
or  three  children  undergoing  the  process  of  trihal 
marking,  and  there  is  no  question  but  in  certain 
districts  cicatrisation  and  disfigurement  are  some- 
what dying  out.  But  away  from  the  routes  of  travel 
the  custom  is  as  frequent  as  ever. 

We  soon  met  with  on  the  road  some  members  of 
the  smaller  forest  tribes  that  are  closely  allied  to  the 
M'buti  or  pygmies;  they  are  well-built  little  people, 
the  men  carrying  bows  and  arrows,  and  frequently  a 
very  gracefully  fashioned  throwing-spear  with  a  narrow- 
bladed  head.  The  women,  who  also  are  well-built 
and  strong,  carry  all  the  loads,  and  both  sexes 
anoint  their  bodies  with  a  mixture  of  palm  oil  and 
a  red  pigment  formed  of  clay  and  the  bark  of  a  forest 
tree.  The  paths  to  their  villages  led  ofT  from  the 
main  travel  route,  and  if  the  people  caught  sight  of 
us  at  long  distance  they  would  frequently  avoid  us  by 
diving  into  the  forest  ;  if  they  had  to  pass  near  to  us 
they  hustled  by  half  frightened. 

Leaving  the  Bahema  villages,  we  passed  through 
several  miles  of  what  we  thought  to  be  impenetrable 
woods,  but  not  until  we  reached  the  Ituri  River  did 
we  learn  what  the  Central  African  forest  really  was  in 
growth  and  dimension. 

The  next  tribe  that  we  encountered  was  the 
Walese,  a  widely  spread  people,  who  are  divided  and 
subdivided  into  many  tribes  and  villages  that  have 
15 


128         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

little  inter-commiinication,  although  they  come  from 
the  same  parent  stock,  having  similar  customs,  methods 
of  hair-dressing  and  body  marks.  The  Walese  are 
warlike  and  very  truculent.  The  great  majority  dis- 
dain any  open  allegiance  to  the  Belgian  authority, 
and  for  some  time  past  have  paid  no  tribute  to  the 
Government. 

We  were  informed  by  the  authorities  at  Irumu, 
when  we  reached  there,  that  these  warrior  people  were 
quite  out  of  hand,  and  that  a  war  might  be  expected  at 
any  time.  The  Walese  are  still  cannibals.  We  had  quite 
a  little  to  do  with  them  afterwards,  and  we  liked  neither 
their  ways  nor  their  manners.  Taken  altogether  they 
are  about  as  bad  a  lot  of  savages  as  we  encountered, 
and,  living  as  they  do  in  the  forest,  a  complete  subjuga- 
tion of  these  people  would  be  quite  impossible  with 
any  force  at  least  that  the  Government  could  now  bring 
to  meet  them. 

Next  to  the  Walese  come  the  Babira,  who,  while 
warlike  also,  indulge  to  a  much  greater  extent  in  tilling 
the  soil,  and  their  plantations  are  quite  extensive. 

So  many  caravans  were  then  entering  the  Congo 
Beige  through  Uganda  and  along  this  route,  that  in 
many  of  the  larger  villages  regular  markets  had  been 
established  ;  at  other  places  the  natives  would  not  part 
with  a  bunch  of  bananas,  or  condescend  to  barter  for 
a  fowl. 

Considering  that  up  to  the  present  time  the  supplies 
for  all  the  expeditions  and  the  up-keep  of  the  mining 
companies  of  Kilo  and  the  Haut  Ituri  have  to  be  brought 


BABIRA    WOMEN     IN     THE     MARKET     PLACE 


IRUMU  129 

in  over  this  roujj^h  trail,  wliicli    is   in  very  bad  coiulilioii, 
the  aiiiount  ol    coiniiRice   is   remarkable. 

An  African  of  his  own  accord  will  never  take  the 
trouble  to  lift,  or  throw  out  of  the  way,  any  obstacle 
that  may  have  fallen  in  the  path.  He  will  walk  round  it. 
Ten  minutes',  sometimes  two  minutes'  work  would 
save  him  a  hundred  yards'  marciiin^,  but  he  never  thinks 
of  it.  Even  in  the  open  country  the  well-trodden  paths 
wander  aimlessly.  1  was  told  that  on  the  old  slave 
route  this  was  accounted  tor  by  the  fact  that  many 
slaves  died,  and  as  they  were  not  buried  the  path 
was  changed  to  avoid  the  bodies.  Truly  they  must  have 
died   by  hundreds. 

We  had  another  little  shauri  with  the  porters  when 
but  half  a  day's  march  from  Irumu.  We  halted  for 
luncheon  at  quite  a  populous  village,  where  there  was 
plenty  of  food,  and  indications  of  beer-brewing.  This 
time  we  all  pretended  to  be  hard  of  hearing,  and  the 
spokesman  was  quite  exhausted  before  he  had  finished. 
In  reply  I  made  a  long  speech  in  English,  w^hich  in- 
cluded all  I  could  remember  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, Goldsmith's  "  Deserted  Village,"  and 
"  Spartacus's  Address  to  the  Gladiators."  They  seemed 
much  impressed,  and  when  we  started  on  they  reluct- 
antly followed  us. 

We  ran  into  a  big  thunderstorm,  and  at  last  arrived 
at  Irumu  in  the  afternoon,  wet  through,  and  tired, 
having  this  day  covered  some  eighteen  miles. 

Irumu  is  the  most  imj")ortant  post  in  the  Haut  Itiuai. 
Here   are    placed    the    custom-house,    the    Government 


130         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

stores,  and  the  prison,  but  no  hospital.  The  native 
court  is  held  here,  and  there  are  stationed  about  two 
hundred  well-drilled  black  troops  under  a  commandant, 
a  lieutenant,  and  a  white  sous-officier.  The  white  Gov- 
ernment officials  in  all  muster  some  fourteen  or  fifteen. 
As  is  the  case  with  most  Belgian  posts,  they  are  made 
up  of  all  nationalities  but  English.  There  v/ere  here, 
if  I  remember  rightly,  two  Germans,  three  Frenchmen, 
two  Danes,  two  Hollanders,  a  Norwegian,  and  a  Swede, 
and  to  complete  the  polyglot  population  the  man  most 
influential  in  securing  porters  and  native  labour  was  a 
Boer  from  South  Africa. 

Having  settled  with  the  Customs  and  presented 
the  letters  that  had  been  given  us  by  the  Government 
officials  at  Brussels  asking  courtesies  for  our  expedition, 
we  discharged  the  Baganda  porters  and  pitched  our 
tents  in  the  camping  ground. 

Irumu  is  badly  located  for  a  frontier  post.  It  is 
on  a  river,  the  waters  of  which  are  muddy  and 
unhealthy,  and  the  white  officials  have  to  send  nearly 
two  miles  for  their  drinking  water.  The  post  is  com- 
posed of  two  broad  intersecting  avenues  along  which 
are  the  well-built  commodious  offices  and  dwellings  of 
the  officials.  One  of  these  streets,  running  to  the  east, 
ends  in  the  wide  parade  ground  surrounded  by  the 
quarters  of  the  native  troops.  At  the  end  of  the 
other  avenue  is  the  market-place.  The  Indian  traders 
have  obtained  a  firm  foothold  here,  and  there  are 
several  decent  shops  and  stores  ;  also  the  magazines 
of  one  or  two  European  trading  houses.       When    one 


IRUMU  131 

thinks  tliat  all  of  these  suiiiiiies,  as  well  as  the  machinery 
and  equipment  ot  the  (joxernment  ^jjold  mines  at  Kilo, 
three  days'  marcli  to  the  north,  and  the  mines  ol  the 
Fourminiere  Company,  have  heen  carried  here  over 
that  rough  path  on  men's  hacks,  it  is  a  cause  for 
wonder.  We  were  told  that  nearly  two  thousand 
porters  a  month  enter  or  start  from  Irumu.  There 
was  a  large  caravan  just  setting  out  when  we  arrived, 
loaded  with  wheel-barrows,  picks  and  shovels  for  the 
mines. 

Mr.  Van  Marke,  the  Inspector  of  Customs,  received 
us  most  cordially,  and  lent  us  assistance  in  every  way. 
He  was  a  Hollander,  but  his  mother  was  a  Yorkshire 
woman,  and  he  spoke  English  perfectly.  He  gave  us 
much  interesting  information  in  regard  to  our  route, 
and  told  us  a  great  deal  about  the  natives,  but,  alas! 
we  were  promised  no  porters,  and  it  looked  as  if  our 
stay  might  be  protracted. 

A  storm  came  up  on  the  second  day  after  our 
arrival,  and  blew  us  down  again,  smashing  the  tent- 
poles  and  scattering  our  lighter  goods  and  chattels 
all  over  the  country. 

Here  practically  ended  our  tent  life,  for  we  pitched 
camp  but  twice  more.  Henceforward  we  were  to 
live  in  Government  "  rest-houses,"  or  native  dwellings. 
We  employed  our  spare  time  in  taking  photographs, 
and  secured  some  very  interesting  moving  pictures 
of  the  black  troops  drilling.  Our  relations  with 
the  oflficers  was  a  source  of  amazed  curiosity  to  the 
rank  and  file.     Owing  to  a    hitch    in    the    proceedings 


132         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

two  or  three  manceuvres  had  to  be  repeated,  and  one 
of  our  party,  being  interested  in  the  guns  carried  by 
the  soldiers,  examined  one  carefully.  They  were 
single  shot  rifles  with  heavy  hammers  of  about  the 
period  of  the  early  'seventies,  and  used  black  pov^^der. 
Subsequently  Ernesti,  our  source  ot  general  information, 
informed  us  that  a  rumour  had  spread  through  the 
battalion  that  the  English  were  soon  to  take  the  Congo. 
He  had  held  conversation  with  a  black  sergeant,  who 
spoke  as  follows. 

"  Lo,  behold,"  sa'd  he,  "here  come  two  English- 
men. They  tell  our  oflfiicers  what  to  make  us  do. 
Then  we  do  it  over  and  over  again.  They  look  at 
our  rifles  that  only  shoot  once ;  theirs  shoot  many  times ; 
you  do  not  have  to  load  them  at  all.  The  English 
will  take  the  country." 

"Well,"  asked  Kearton,  "do  you  think  they 
would  object?" 

Ernesti  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"They  would  not  care,"  said  he,  "  as  long  as  they 
were  fed  ;  they  would  not  fight  white  men." 

To  make  a  long  story  short,  at  the  end  of  a  week 
we  had  secured  some  thirty  or  forty  porters  and 
started  on  toward  Kifiku,  the  first  stopping-place  on 
the  edge  of  the  forest,  dividing  the  column  into  two 
divisions.     Another  thirty  were  to  follow  in  two  days. 


B 


BLACK    TROOPS    AT    IRUMU 


A    GOVERNMENT    REST-HOUSE 


THE        ENTKNTI':     CORPIAI.K 


CHAPTER  XI 

ENTERING    THK    FORKST 

4  T  the  head  of  the  first  division  I  set  out  to  the 
J^\^  westward  with  the  sun  hehind  my  hack. 
Although  it  was  quite  early  the  market-place  was 
crowded  with  chattering  groups  of  hlacks  selling 
bananas,  yams,  sugar-cane,  native  tobacco,  some 
curious  dried  roots  and  firewood.  A  few  native  traders 
who  had  amassed  enough  wealth  to  buy  salt  and  sugar 
had  their  wares  spread  out  on  the  ground  in  little 
piles,  like  children's  mud  pies,  on  the  fresh,  broad 
palmated  banana  leaves.  The  women  were  doing 
most  of  the  marketing.  Some  of  them  wore  toga- 
like garments  of  cheap  print  cloth  and  others  wxre 
dressed  mostly  like  the  September  morning.  A  few 
wore  great  disks,  two  or  three  inches  in  diameter, 
fitting  into  incisions  in  their  upper  lips.  They  looked 
hideous,  especially  when  they  talked  or  laughed. 
What  was  my  surprise  to  see  a  woman  take  one  of 
these  disfiguring  objects  out,  probably  the  better  to 
adjust  it,  and  to  see  that  the  lip  regained  its  natural 
shape,  leaving  only  a  small  triangular  scar.  Catching 
my  eye  she  appeared  quite  as  embarrassed  as  would 
a  lady  who  had  been  caught  unawares  removing  her 
false  teeth.     She  turned  her  back  upon  me,  and  then, 


134         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

presto !  the  disk,  as  large  as  a  mustard  pot,  was  in 
place  again  ;  reassured,  she  smiled.  It  was  a  painful 
smile.     I   fled. 

It  was  a  grand  day  for  walking,  the  heat  had  not 
yet  come  on,  and  by  noon  the  gun-bearer  and  I  were 
three  or  four  miles  ahead  of  the  lagging  column. 
We  were  still  in  open  country — wide,  ranging  plains 
covered  w^ith  the  coarse  reed-like  grass.  Directly  before 
us  lifted  the  slope  of  a  hill  broken  along  the  ridge 
by  sharp  pointed,  lofty  pinnacles.  Half-way  up  the 
path  ran  through  a  native  village.  As  we  entered  a 
middle-aged  man  came  forward  with  his  hand  out- 
stretched. 

"  Bon  jo,"  he  said. 

Near  the  posts  the  natives  have  picked  up  an 
approach  to  the   Belgian  words  of  greeting. 

He  began  to  jabber  something  at  me,  and  then  I 
discovered  he  wanted  me  to  follow  him  toward  the 
largest  of  the  huts.  The  place  contained  not  more 
than  fifteen  or  twenty  at  the  most. 

Wondering  what  was  to  do,  I  followed.  Bending 
down  he  pulled  aside  a  screen  of  woven  grass 
and  bade  me  enter.  The  close  odour  of  the 
place  made  me  feel  almost  faint  as  1  thrust  in  my 
head,  but  distinctly  I  saw  a  woman  lying  there  on  a 
couch  of  goat-skin.  It  needed  but  a  glance  to  see 
that  she  was  dying,  and  but  a  second  look  to  decide 
what  was  the  matter.  I  had  once  before  seen  a  case 
of  small-pox  in  its  most  virulent  stage.  Hastily  I 
withdrew. 


ENTERING   THE    FOREST  il5 

The  chief,  lor  such  I  jiidu^cd  liiin,  looked  at  ine 
sorrowfully.  I  guessed  that  he  was  asking  it  1  eoidd  do 
nothing  for  the  sufferer — I  caught  the  word  "dowa." 
I  shook  ni}'  head,  waved  a  slow  hand  and  left  him 
leaning  there  against  the  side  of  the  hut.  I'he  place 
was  quite  deserted,  and  I  well  understood  the  reason. 
I  saw  but  one  old  woman  antl  a  \ery  old  man,  seated 
in  the  shade  of  a  grass  shelter.  They  scarcely  looked 
up  as  I  passed. 

Anxious  to  get  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  where  the 
wind  was  blowing,  I  fairly  ran  up  the  steep  slope,  ami 
soon  found  myself  amid  the  outcropping  of  stone.  1 
stopped  to  hght  my  pipe.  There  was  still  another 
rise  of  ground  between  me  and  the  sky  line  ;  in  a  few 
hundred  yards  the  summit  was  reached,  and  there  I 
paused.  It  was  a  great  sight,  a  sight  worth  coming 
many  thousands  of  miles  to  see. 

To  the  west,  at  the  foot  of  a  slightly  undulating 
slope,  only  five  or  six  miles  away,  rose  the  green 
walls  and  ramparts  of  the  great  forest.  The  line  of 
demarcation  was  as  clear  as  a  timber  claim  on  the 
American  prairie.  Eight  hundred  miles  and  more  it 
stretched  away  to  the  westward  like  a  dark  green  high- 
land, with  capes  and  promontories  extended  here  and 
there  into  the  smooth  sea  of  the  open  grass  country, 
or  better,  to  change  the  simile  entirely,  it  was  like  a 
great  inundation  that  was  flowing  out  on  to  a  sedgy, 
rolling  beach,  an  inundation  that  had  been  arrested 
and  held  motionless  for  all  time. 

I  cannot    describe  my  sensations  as   I  looked   at    it. 


136        THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

To  north  and  south,  as  well  as  westward,  it  held  pos- 
session of  the  eye.  I  turned  to  the  east,  there,  billow- 
ing far  away  miles  and  miles  uncountable,  swept 
the  grey-green  ocean  of  the  open  country.  But  it 
was  the  forest  that  drew  me.  In  that  blue  vast- 
ness  westward  were  people  that  knew  no  sunlight, 
here  to  the  east  dwelt  people  who  could  find  no 
shade.  Differing  in  customs  and  modes  of  life,  they 
were  born,  existed — died  !  I  stood  on  the  summit  of 
the  barrier-land.  I  forgot  the  sick  and  mangy  village 
just  below,  and  the  thoughts  that  came  to  me  I  wish 
I  could  record.  No  doubt  I  looked  over  a  land — for 
the  air  was  clear  and  I  could  see  many  miles -a  land 
into  which  no  white  man  had  ever  gone,  and  I  knew 
that  not  far  away,  only  a  few  hours'  march  beyond 
the  wall  of  that  great  prison  of  foliage,  flowed  an 
estuary  of  the  mighty  river  that  poured  its  muddy 
volumes  into  the  Atlantic,  and  yet  we  were  not  half- 
way across  the  continent.  There  were  months  be- 
fore us  ere  we  could  see  the  great  waters.  There,  like 
a  Titan's  contour  map  stretched  out  in  front  of  me, 
lay  the  home  of  pygmy  tribes  perhaps  undiscovered  ; 
of  savages  who  still  ate  human  flesh;  the  haunt  of 
sorcery  and  witchcraft,  of  cruelty  and  slavery  and 
death. 

For  countless  ages  it  has  been  like  this.  It  tempted 
one  to  enter  and   explore  its  mysteries. 

In  a  short  two  hours  I  stood  in  the  very  gate,  and 
then  a  plunge  through  some  few  hundred  feet  of 
heavy  bush,  and  the  curtain  dropped  behind  me. 


NEARING    KIFIKU 


ENTERING   THE    FORi:ST  137 

The  change  from  the  heat  of  the  \^\a\\\  was  the 
first  sensation,  and  tlieii  a  thousand  odours  reached 
the  senses.  From  some  storehouse  o(  my  memory 
there  came  to  me  tlie  reminiscent  scents  of  a  great 
mushroom  celhir  that  I  liad  once  visited  as  a  boy, 
tfie  damp  eartli,  and  yet  the  feehng  of  near-by 
growing  things  that  loved  tlie  darkness;  things  that 
sprang  up  and  died  so  quickly  that  their  living  and 
their  decaying  unfragrances  were  mingled.  I  wished 
to  go  in  deeper,  and  yet  half  fearfully,  and  half 
regretfully,  I  turned  and  looked  back  at  the  little  ray 
of  sunshine  that  filtered  past  the  curtain  I  had  drawn 
aside.     A  few  more   steps  and  that  ray  was  gone. 

For  an  instant  the  temptation  came  to  me  to  rush 
back  again  into  the  sunlight.  Twenty-seven  years 
before,  Stanley,  travelling  eastward  in  his  expedition  to 
the  relief  of  Emin  Pasha,  had  pushed  aside  the  last 
gloomy  veil  of  the  forest,  and  "emerged  upon  a 
rolling  plain,  green  as  an  English  lawn,  into  the 
broadest,  swxetest  daylight."  Well  could  I  imagine  his 
sensations. 

Our  path  led  now  in  the  opposite  direction  towards 
the  setting  sun.  It  was  to  be  a  long,  long  time  before 
we  saw  the  wide  open  spaces  again. 

The  trail  to  the  Ituri  w^as  well  defined.  Abdul,  the 
gun-bearer,  and  I  pressed  on,  and  after  passing  one  01 
two  overgrown  clearings  where  old  villages  had  once 
been,  we  came  out  suddenly  on  the  bank  of  a  swift- 
flowing,  muddy  stream  some  eighty  yards  in  wndth.  On 
the  farther  bank   could  be  seen  some  well-built    native 


138         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

houses,  and  a  ferry,  consisting  of  a  large  canoe  hollowed 
from  a  single  log,  was  moored  under  the  overhanging 
branches  of  a  tree.  At  a  call  the  ferryman  responded, 
skilfully  punting  his  way  across,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
he  had  taken  us  aboard  and  left  us  at  the  end  of  the 
Mongwana  village  of  Kifiku,  that  in  the  native  language 
means   "The   place  of  landing." 

We  had  met  at  Irumu,  a  few  days  before,  the 
chief  of  the  Congo  Oriental  Company,  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  the  trading  companies  that  deal  directly 
with  the  natives  of  the  Haut  Ituri,  and  he  had  invited 
us  to  stay  at  his  headquaters  at  Kifiku,  while  we  sought 
opportunity  to  get  pictures  of  elephants,  the  neighbouring 
mbiiti,  or  pygmies,  and  perhaps  to  get  a  glimpse  of 
the  okapi,  the  forest  animal  half  antelope,  half  giraffe, 
that  not  more  than  two  or  three  white  men  have  ever 
seen  alive. 

Few  people  stay  very  long  in  the  unhealthy  districts 
of  Central  Africa  without  showing  the  effects  of  the 
climate,  and  certainly  the  plucky  little  Frenchman,  who 
had  lived  there  for  eight  years,  was  the  sickest-looking 
man  I  have  ever  seen.  Once  strong  and  robust,  he 
had  wasted  away  absolutely  to  mere  bones.  Successive 
fevers  and  long  illnesses  had  marked  him.  Nothing 
but  indomitable  will  and  courage  had  kept  him  going. 
Now  he  was  completing  his  service,  and  going  to  retire 
for  good  and  all  from  the  country  that  had  sapped  him 
so  cruelly.  Yet  during  the  time  we  were  his  guests 
Monsieur  Delporte  worked  from  ten  to  fourteen  hours 
a  day.      He  was  virtually  the  white  ruler  of  a  far-flung 


AN     IVORY     CARAVAN     ON     Till-,     MARCH 


-Sw 


*..  ^':>!iv- 


IVORY    TRADER'S    YARD 


ENTERING   THE   FOREST  139 

district,  and  old  Lonibura,  or  Gondolo,  as  he  was 
sometimes  called,  the  paramount  chicl.  with  whom  he 
had  much  to  do,  was  but  his  henchman  and  prime 
minister.  In  fact  here,  at  Kihku,  we  entered  into  the 
traders'  dynasty.  It  was  a  curious  insij^ht  that  we 
obtained  during  our  stay  into  the  commercial  possi- 
bilities of  a  trading  company,  that  under  competent 
hands  had  secured  a  foothold  stronger  than  any 
government,  and  a  sway  that  required  no  upkeep  of 
armed  force  to  prolong  its  power. 

Kitiku  is  the  most  important  ivory  trading  post  in 
the  Ituri  district,  and  the  leading  representative  of 
the  company  has  here  installed  a  system  that  on  a 
larger  scale  would  be  the  greatest  money-making 
project  that  ever  could  exist.  It  was  as  if  b}^  planting 
a  few  francs  in  the  ground  money-bearing  trees  had 
sprung  into  existence ;  one  had  hardly  to  shake  the 
branches  and  they  blossomed  from  one  year's  end  to 
another.     M.  Delporte  was  the  planter. 

He  was  perfectly  frank  about  it,  and  there  was  no 
secrecy  at  all  in  the  method,  and  it  was  as  simple  as 
ABC.  Money  was  in  circulation — francs,  five  franc 
pieces,  and  smaller  currency  represented  by  tokens  in 
the  decimal  system  that  went  down  to  half  a  centime. 
The  usual  smaller  coin  current  with  the  natives 
represented  in  value  the  tenth  of  an  English  penn}^, 
and  was  called  a  makuta.  A  few  sovereigns'  worth  of 
them  strung  on  stout  string  through  the  holes  in  the 
centre  would  make  a  good  load   for  a  man. 

Now,  the  Congo  Oriental  Company   owned  all    the 


140        THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

stores  where  the  money  could  be  spent,  and  fixed  its 
own  prices  for  ivory,  rubber,  labour  and  trade 
goods.  As  soon  as  a  native  was  paid  cash  for  anything, 
either  as  an  advance  or  for  services  rendered,  he 
hastened  hot-foot  to  the  company's  stores  and  bought 
anything  from  an  harmonica  to  a  second-hand  gold- 
braided  uniform,  and  as  the  profit  in  these  articles 
ran  from  a  hundred  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent., 
it  can  easily  be  seen  where  the  money  trees  came  in. 
The  man  who  had  brought  in  ivory  w^as  paid  for  it 
in  cash,  at  a  rate  that  ensured  a  profit  of  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  per  cent.,  and  immediately  he  repaired 
to  the  store  where  he  bought  things  he  had  no  use  for, 
giving  another  profit  of  cent,  per  cent,  at  least.  The 
money  was  sent  from  the  store  to  the  company's 
offices,  where  the  native  was  paid  for  carrying  the 
ivory  on  the  first  stage  of  its  long  journey  to  the  coast; 
the  money  received  was  the  same  that  had  been  paid 
for  the  ivory  in  the  first  place,  and  the  bearer 
would  surely  come  back  and  spend  his  wages  at  the 
store  again. 

It  w^as  a  lovely  system,  and  the  only  real  chance 
for  loss  was  the  wear  and  tear  on  the  money  itself, 
and  the  expense  of  book-keeping.  If  the  native 
demanded  an  extra  price  for  ivory  or  labour  there  was 
very  little  trouble  made  over  it,  the  extra  cost  was 
added  to  the  articles  in  the  store.  Quite  simple,  is  it 
not  ? 

I  shrewdly  suspect  that  old  Lombura  was  a  silent 
partner  in  the  enterprise,  for  the  attempt  of  any  Indian 


ENTERING   THE    FOREST  141 

trader,  or  tlie  representative  of  any  other  company,  to 
do  any  business  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  numerous 
villages  under  his  control  received  an    instant    quietus. 

Had  it  not  been  for  our  friend  the  trader's  Gallic 
enthusiasm,  and  the  sanguine  expectations  he  held 
out,  we  might  not  have  taken  so  great  an  amount 
of  stock,  as  it  were,  in  Lombura's  promises,  ami 
most  certainly  we  would  not  have  delayed  so  long 
in  his  bailliewick.  Monsieur  Deli)orte  had  recom- 
mended Lombura  very  highly,  and  then  had  taken 
his    departure. 

Lombura  had  imbibed  so  much  of  the  trading 
company's  methods  and  ideas  that  he  knew  a  good 
thing  when  he  saw  it.  We  were  that  good  thing. 
What  a  bland,  plausible  old  scoundrel  he  proved  to 
be,  and  yet  withal  a  man  of  dominance  and  quiet 
force.  Never  did  we  see  him  that  we  could  remember 
without  a  smile  on  his  face,  an  inscrutable,  joke-on- 
the-universe  smile  that  was  quite  unfathomable.  It 
had  been  suggested  that  we  make  Lombura  a  present 
as  a  good  way  to  secure  his  interest.  We  made  him 
one  to  the  extent  of  one  hundred  francs.  He  suggested 
that  we  should  carry  on  the  good  work  by  giving  him 
further  presents  that  he  could  present  to  his  sub- 
chiefs.  This  we  did  in  trade  stuff,  iron  jumbies,  or 
native  hoes,  wire,  and  blue  cotton  cloth,  called  kaiiiki, 
so  dear  to  the  Congo  native's  heart. 

From  what  Lombura  told  us,  the  native  and  tributary 
chiefs  would,  in  return  for  all  this  advance  ^^  matabeesh,'* 
or   tribute,  round  up  a  herd    of    fine    elephant    in    the 


142        THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

open  so  that  we  could  photograph  them,  and  enlist  the 
services  of  a  trained  corps  of  pygmy  trackers,  who 
would  bring  us  face  to  face  with  the  okapi ;  he 
promised  that  we  would  be  given  such  opportunities 
of  seeing  the  people  and  the  customs  of  the  country 
that  never  before  was  the  lot  of  white  men.  All 
we  had  to  do  was  to  sit  down  and  wait,  and  when 
everything  was  ready  he  would  let  us  know.  So  we 
sat  and  waited,  and  when  we  met  Lombura  he  smiled 
such  an  encouraging  smile,  it  had  all  the  promised 
divulgence  of  mystery;  but  nothing  happened.  The 
native  messengers  sent  out  into  the  surrounding 
country  with  the  tribute  never  came  back. 

It  was  time  to  force  old  Lombura's  hand,  if  such 
a  thing  could  be  done.  After  following  him  up  pretty 
closely  he  told  us  that  everything  was  ready.  That 
he  would  provide  us  with  porters  at  so  much  per  head, 
an  escort  from  his  own  personal  staff,  and  a  guide 
who  would  take  us  south  of  the  Loya  River  where 
the  mysteries  of  the  forest  would  be  unfolded. 

The  guide  was  no  other  than  a  sub-chief  himself, 
a  half  pygmy,  half  Walese,  and  a  most  curious  little 
figure  he  was  when  we  first  saw  him.  He  was  dressed 
in  a  cheap  German  military  cap  with  a  wide  gold 
braid,  a  pair  of  trousers  that  were  not  rolled,  but 
furled  in  successive  turns  at  the  ankle  and  confined 
under  his  armpits  with  a  gaudy  cricket  belt.  He  could 
speak,  or  pretended  he  could  speak,  a  little  Swahili, 
and  from  politeness,  or  from  not  understanding  the 
questions  addressed  to  him,   he  always  replied    in    the 


ENTERING     A    VILLAGE:    THE     DWARF    LEADS    THE     WAY 


WOMEN    RUNNING    OUT    TO    MEET    THE    COLUMN 


ENTERING   THE    FOREST  i43 

affirmative,  N'dio.  He  was  about  the  size  of  a  boy 
of  eleven  years  of  age,  and  I  judged  him  to  be  very 
young,  imtil  subsequently  it  was  dexeloped  that  he 
had  a  number  of  wives  and  some  very  promising 
families. 

When  first  Ave  met  Iiim,  in  the  presence  of  Lom- 
bura,  we  had  a  most  satisfactory  interview. 

Would  we  find  elephants  down  in  this  country? 
''N'dio."  Many?  "N'dio."  In  the  open  where  we 
could  take  pictures  of  them?  "N'dio."  Pygmies? 
"N'dio."  Okapi?  "Oh,  N'dio,  n'dio."  So  at  last 
when  tfie  day  came  for  setting  out  we  w^ere  in  very 
high  spirits. 

Old  Lombura  had  secured  for  us  two  canoes  in 
which  Kearton  and  I  were  to  descend  the  river,  half 
a  day's  journey,  taking  some  of  our  supplies  with  us. 
At  a  certain  point  we  were  to  meet  the  porters,  who 
had  started  earlier  with  the  rest  of  our  necessary 
belongings. 

The  expedition  formed  one  of  the  most  interesting 
chapters  in  our  African  experience. 


CHAPTER   XII 

OUR    EXPEDITION   SOUTH    OF    LOYA  INTO  THE  PYGMY  COUNTRY 

OLD  Lombura  came  down  to  the  landing  to  see 
us  off.  We  demurred  very  much  at  the  leaky 
old  canoe  which  had  been  provided  for  our  trip  down 
the  river,  and  after  some  conversation,  during  which 
the  wily  old  chief  never  lost  his  inscrutable  smile,  he 
gave  us  the  large  ferry  canoe,  and  to  our  surprise 
drew  what  subsequently  proved  to  be  a  fairly  accurate 
map  of  the  country  into  which  we  were  going,  with 
a  point  of  his  stick  in  the  wet  sand. 

With  our  personal  boys,  gun-bearers,  and  cameras 
we  shoved  off  at  last  into  the  river.  Within  three 
hundred  yards  we  had  rounded  a  bend,  and  all  signs 
of  human  habitation  had  disappeared.  The  great 
forest  rose  on  either  hand  in  towering  palisades  of 
green.  The  water  wa^  very  low,  and  the  skill  dis- 
played by  our  paddlers  would  have  won  the  admiration 
of  an  expert  Canadian  voyageur ;  they  avoided  the 
many  rocks  and  shoals,  sometimes  skirting  the  bank, 
and  sometimes  holding  to  mid -stream,  with  all  the 
certainty  of  a  Micmac  pilot  on  a  Labrador  stream. 

"This  beats  walking,"  remarked  the  Photographer, 
who    was    lolling    back    in    the    camp     arm-chair   that 

exactly  fitted  into  the  narrow  space    between  the  gun- 

144 


CROSSING    THE    LOYA    RIVER 


OUR    CAMP    AT    MAMAKUPI 


INTO  THE   PYGMY   COUNTRY        145 

wales,  and  most  certainly  it  did.  1  here  was  a  sense 
ot  real  enjoyment  and  novelty.  We  could  see  that 
our  escort  were  happy.  They  all  belonged  to  inland 
tribes  of  the  plains,  and  hills,  and  it  was  their  first  ex- 
perience of  canoeing.  If  they  could  have  understood 
they  would  have  subscribed  heartily  to  Kearton's 
remark. 

A  voluble  chattering  had  risen  among  them  that 
was  interrupted  by  the  bowman  turning  quickly,  with 
upraised  hand,  and  enjoining  silence.  The  two  pad- 
dlers  and  the  steersman  began  searching  the  shores 
with  what  appeared  to  me  rather  anxious  faces.  I 
turned  and  asked  what  was  the  matter.  There  was 
some  more  whispering  in  very  low  tones,  and  then 
Ernesti  gave  us  the  following  rather  cryptic  information. 

"It  comes  out  from  the  river  bank  over  the  water; 
they  are  afraid  of  it;    we  must  make  no  noise." 

"What?"  asked   Kearton.     "What  comes?" 

"I  don't  know,  bwana,"  replied  Ernesti,  "but  if 
it  does  come  we  must  jump  into  the  water." 

The  bowman  made  another  gesture  imploring 
silence.  The  paddlers  were  using  great  caution  as 
they  softly  swept  their  paddles  through  the  water. 
It  was  quite  uncanny.  I  thought  it  better  to  be  pre- 
pared, and  slipped  the  big  rifie  out  of  its  cover. 
For  fully  three  minutes  we  drifted  in  this  way,  and 
then  an  idea  seized  Kearton  and  myself  at  the  same 
time.  The  superstitious  savages  were  afraid  of  spirits 
that  were  supposed  to  haunt  this  part  of  the  river. 
I   was  almost  tempted  to  give  a  loud  halloo,  to  break 


146         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

the  silence.  It  was  rather  well  that  I  did  not  yield, 
for  now  we  observed  the  bowman  pointing,  and  this 
time  to  the  branches  of  the  great  trees  that  over- 
hung the  water.  There  depending  from  a  limb  was 
a  huge  bees'  nest  of  mud  and  leaf  fibre  some  fifteen 
feet  long,  and  a  little  way  btlow  there  was  another 
quite  as  large. 

The  African  bee  must  possess  an  acutely  nervous 
temperament.  Not  only  does  he  attack  objects  that 
offend  his  sight,  but  those  that  offend  his  sense  of 
hearing.  Had  there  been  much  noise  from  the  canoe 
the  bees  would  have  come  out  and  attacked  us.  It 
was  no  foolish  superstition,  it  was  a  "condition  not 
a  theory"  that  confronted  us.  These  intensely  bel- 
ligerent insects  do  not  live  entirely  on  the  honey 
that  they  may  gather  from  the  flowering  trees  and 
shrubs,  they  eat  carrion,  decaying  fungi,  and  haunt 
the  offal  heaps  of  the  villages. 

I  have  never  heard  of  any  attempts  at  their 
domestication. 

We  had  soon  passed  the  danger  zone,  a  fact  that 
was  signalled  by  a  loud  whoop  from  the  bowman, 
and  a  splash  and  a  clatter  of  the  paddles  against  the 
sides  of  the  canoe.  Our  speed  increased,  and  after 
some  three  hours  of  sudden  spurts,  followed  by  lazy 
drifting,  the  steersman  headed  us  in  for  shore.  A 
green  tunnel  showed  where  a  steep,  muddy  path 
came  down  the  bank  at  the  water's  edge,  and  half 
hidden  here  was  a  hollowed  log  canoe  in  rather  a 
leaky   state.     On  the  opposite  bank  was  a   correspond- 


INTO   THE   PYGMY   COUNTRY        147 

ing  opening  in  the  foliage.  A  little  way  in  the  forest 
there  was  a  collection   of  leafy  huts. 

The  sun  was  now  hot  out  on  the  river,  and  dis- 
embarking we  waited  for  the  porters  who  v\ere  to 
make  tlie  journey  on  foot.  In  another  iioiu  and  a 
half  they  had  arrived,   and  were  ferried  across. 

The  trail  led  south  through  the  forest.  A  narrow 
footpath  at  the  best,  it  climbed  up  and  down  slijipery 
gullies,  over  masses  of  fallen  trees  and  debris,  and 
although  it  was  past  noon,  only  here  and  there  did 
a  stray  ray  of  sunlight  filter  through  the  canopy  that 
stretched  above   us. 

Our  little  half-pygmy  guide  had  discarded  liis  town 
fin  ry  and  was  much  the  better  looking  in  consequence. 
There  is  a  certain  dignity  that  the  well-built  savage 
seems  to  possess  in  naturalibiis  that  he  loses  entirely 
in  store  clothes.  From  somewhere  the  guide  had  pos- 
sessed himself  of  a  spear,  and  I  noticed  that  he  had 
a  porter  of  his  own  carrying  liis  somewhat  heavy  bundle. 

We  had  gone  on  some  five  or  six  miles  when  we 
came  to  the  first  village  that  old  Lombura  had  in- 
dicated on  his  rough  map.  There  was  a  meagre 
plantation  of  banana  trees,  and  a  collection  of  some  ten 
or  a  dozen  huts.  Our  entrance  created  not  a  little 
commotion.  The  local  chief  aj^peared,  hastily  putting 
on  a  red  tunic,  whose  remaining  brass  buttons  pro- 
claimed it  to  be  of  British  Army  origin.  He  shook 
hands,  and  asked  for  some  cloth  in  exchange  for  the 
privilege   of  passing  through  his  little  domain. 

A   word    from    Lombura's   representative  seemed  to 


148         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

answer,  however,  and  ours  being  to  a  certain  extent  a 
personally  conducted  party  we  passed  through  without 
paying  tribute.  This  happened  with  the  second  small 
village  as  well,  and  it  was  late  afternoon  when  we 
arrived  at  Mentoni, 

Of  all  the  disagreeable,  and  ugly  looking  natives, 
this  Walese  village  seemed  to  possess  the  pick.  The 
chief,  of  whom  not  a  little  hereafter,  was  a  one-eyed 
old  rascal  of  a  most  villainous  cast  of  countenance. 
All  of  the  men,  who  scarcely  stirred  at  our  entrance, 
were  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  the  bow  being 
between  three  and  four  feet  in  length,  and  the  arrows 
of  very  light  construction,  tipped  with  barbed  iron 
points,  and  most  probably  poisoned. 

Upon  making  inquiries  as  to  the  whereabouts  of 
elephant  we  were  informed  that  there  w^ere  several 
herds  in  the  vicinit}^,  and  that  one  old  bull  raided 
the  plantations  every  night,  but  he  was  too  wary  to 
be  caught  in  traps  or  pitfalls,  and  we  were  told  that 
he  had  killed  two  of  the  best  elephant  hunters  that 
he  had  caught  in  the  high  grass  while  they  were 
tracking  him.  They  would  be  very  grateful  if  we 
w^ould  stop  and  rid  the  community  of  the  big  beast's 
presence. 

Now  this  section  of  the  Haut  Ituri  is  supposed 
to  be  closed  to  white  elephant  hunters,  although  the 
natives  are  allowed  to  kill  the  animals  in  any  way  they 
possibly  can,  for  the  good  reason,  I  dare  say,  that 
they  could  not  be  prevented.  The  Belgian  Govern- 
ment, through  the   Minister  of  the  Colonies,  had  kindly 


w 

CL 

o 

w 

CL 
H 

o 


Ui 

X 

H 

o 

H 
D 
DC 


SOME    LITTLE    CANNIBALS 


THE    BELLE    OF    THE    VILLAGE 


INTO   THE   PYGMY   GOUiNTRY        149 

presented  our  expedition  witli  a  ^anie  licence  that 
allowed  us  to  shoot  in  any  part  ol  the  Con^o  Bel^e, 
and  included  elephant  to  the   number  of  four. 

While  we  w^ere  talking  to  the  chief,  and  our  tents 
were  being  pitched,  a  native  came  in  with  the  news 
that  the  big  bull  was  on  the  outskirts  of  a  neighbour- 
ing village  helping  himself  to  a  field  of  potatoes. 

We  started  alter  him,  and  having  followed  a  very 
rough  trail  for  some  three  or  four  miles  we  got  close 
enough  to  hear  him  as  he  crashed  through  the  under- 
brush disdaining  all  attempts  to  hide  his  presence. 
It  was  growing  very  dark,  too  dark  indeed  to  see  the 
rifle  sights,  and  photographing  had  long  been  out  of 
question.  We  let  him  alone.  Night  had  fallen  before 
we  got  back  to  our  camp. 

Next  morning  we  made  another  reconnaissance  and 
actually  got  a  good  glimpse  of  the  huge  beast,  but 
so  rough  was  the  going  it  was  doubtful  if  we  could 
come  up  to  him,  as  he  was  travelling  fast.  We 
returned  to  the  village,  and,  breaking  camp,  we  went 
on  to  the  Loya  River,  and  at  last  arrived  at  Mama- 
kupi,  the   home  of  our  half  mhiiti  guide. 

On  the  trail  we  had  followed  we  had  passed  many 
deserted  dwellings  of  the  little  forest  people,  but  not 
a  sight  of  one  did  we  get.  Mamakupi  was  a  large 
and  to  all  appea  ances  a  jMosj^erous  cominunitv.  The 
clearing  would  have  occupied  an  extent  of  nearly  one 
hundred  acres;  the  plantations  seemed  to  be  in  a 
flourishing    condition. 

The  little  chief,   who    had    accompaiucd    us,   donned 


150         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

all  his  regalia,  which  this  time  consisted  of  an  old 
Belgian  uniform,  originally  made  for  a  man  who 
must  have  stood  nearly  six  feet.  He  presented  a 
curious  and  amusing  figure.  His  dignity  had  left 
him,  and  he  resemhled  an  organ-grinder's  monkey 
more  than  anything  else. 

There  w^as  a  pygmy  encampment  in  the  forest  only 
two  or  three  miles  away  that  we  were  informed  was 
occupied,  and  guided  by  one  or  two  of  the  head  men, 
and  bringing  the  cameras  with  us,  we  visited  it  that 
afternoon.  All  of  the  men  were  absent,  ofif  hunting 
we  were  told,  and  most  of  the  women  on  seeing  us 
scuttled  out  of  sight  into  the  bushes,  only  a  very 
few  remained,  mostly  rather  elderly  females.  But 
they  seemed  to  possess  intelligent  faces,  and  n- 
stead  of  being  black  were  of  a  brownish,  coppery 
hue. 

Their  little  village  was  in  a  glade  in  the  forest, 
and  there  w^as  not  sufficient  light  to  obtain  good 
photographic  results. 

We  left  presents  of  cloth,  beads  and  iron  hoes,  and 
returned  there  the  next  morning.  This  time  the  people 
did  not  appear  so  shy,  or  frightened,  and  there  were 
a  number  of  the  younger  women,  and  eight  or  ten 
of  the  hunters.  The  chief,  whether  from  contact  with 
the  Walcse,  or  some  other  tribe,  was  decorated  with 
iron  and  copper  wire,  and  wore  a  peculiar  feathered 
head-dress.  The  older  men  were  hairy  and  bearded, 
and  the  striplings  and  younger  hunters  were  really 
rather   pleasing   to    look    at;    they    all    had    large,    soft 


-'•^rTj-' 


-HE     RESEMBLED    AN    ORGAN-GRINDERS    MONKEY" 


i8 


'J    -^^'  \/r"^ 


!.-'>«-'■* 


^iK.  >•' 


I 


A     YOUNG     M'BUTI     HUNTER 


INTO   THE   PYGMY    COUNTRY        151 

brown  eyes,  and  tlie  younger  women  also  were  well 
proportioned  and   quite  graceful. 

After  some  trouble  we  got  the  men  to  go  through 
their  tracking  mauceuvres,  and  even  to  let  fly  their 
arrows  at  an  imaginary  foe,  but,  alas!  the  results  were 
most  discouraging  when  we  came  to  make  tests  of 
the  film,  and  it  was  this  day  that  I  wrote  in  my 
diary,  "The  forest  is  impossible  as  a  field  for  moving 
photography." 

With  some  diflRculty  we  persuaded  the  chief,  and 
a  few  followers,  to  come  into  the  open,  and  thus  at 
last  we  secured  a  few  feet  of  quite  excellent  pictures. 
These  pygmies  are  altogether  different  from  those  to 
be  found  north  of  the  Ituri ;  they  seem  to  be  stronger 
and  better  built,  slightly  higher  perhaps  in  the  human 
scale.  They  stand  from  three  feet  eight  inches  to 
about  four  feet  two  in  height  when  full  grown.  I  do 
not  believe  that  their  communities  consist  of  more  than 
fifty  or  sixty. 

They  possess  no  permanent  homes,  and  are  con- 
stantly moving  from  one  part  of  the  forest  to  another. 
Probably  they  are  the  very  oldest  race  of  people  on 
the  earth. 

The  little  chief  of  Mamakupi  had  arranged  to  give 
us. a  dance  in  the  afternoon,  but  it  was  late  in  the 
evening  before  the  drums  began  to  call  the  people 
together,  and  when  they  had  all  assembled  and  the 
dance  had  begun  again  there  was  not  sufficient  sun- 
light to  obtain  any  pictures.  We  were  beginning  to 
get   used   to  disappointments. 


152         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

In  the  afternoon  of  tlie  third  day  word  had  come 
in  that  elephants  were  near,  and  having  followed  their 
tracks  through  the  deep  forest  we  got  very  close  to 
them.  It  was  not  a  large  herd,  and  it  was  almost  im- 
possible to  penetrate  through  the  deep  undergrowth 
without  following  directly  in  their  footsteps.  For  ten 
minutes  we  were  within  forty  feet  of  a  young  bull  and 
a  cow,  occasionally  getting  gUmpses  of  their  huge 
bulks  through  the  screen  of  the  leaves,  but  it  was  not 
clear  enough  to  see  whether  they  were  facing  us  or 
not. 

They  shifted  their  position  a  little,  and  we  came  on 
them  again.  This  time  I  was  obliged  to  fire,  as  it  was 
evident  that  they  intended  to  investigate  us  in  their 
turn.  It  was  a  lucky  shot,  and  the  first  big  beast 
came  down,  burying  its  tusks  in  the  ground  not  thirty 
eet   away.     The  rest  of  the  herd  made  otT. 

On  our  return  we  passed  through  the  pygmy  village. 
They  had  heard  the  shooting,  and  were  coming  out 
to  meet  us.  Before  darkness  had  completely  descended 
elephant  meat  was  arriving  at  Mamakupi  in  basketfuls. 
They  brought  us  the  tusks  the  next  morning  ;  they 
weighed   under  forty  pounds. 

Having  supplied  the  village  larder,  we  were  quite 
popular,  and  could  have  remained  as  Mamakupi's 
guests  as  long  as  we  desired,  but  unfortunately  Kearton 
was  far  from  well,  and  we  decided  to  make  haste  back 
to  Kifiku.  The  evening  of  the  next  day  found  us 
once   more   at   Mentoni. 

Having    heard     that    we    had    shot    an    elephant,   the 


P\:. 


v«9,. 


...tvT. 


■e:' 


\v^  ■5?*'  .«»i*'Ti«-^^*v> 


A    WALESE    M'BUTI    CHIEF 


A    LIGHT    LUNCH.     AN    ELEPHANT'S    FOREFOOT 


INTO   THE   PYGMY   COUNTRY        153 

villagers  here  begged  us  to  stay  and  rid  tliciii  of  their 
particular  pest,  the  big  tusker,  and  after  a  consultation 
it  was  decided  that  I  should  stay,  with  four  or  five  of 
our  escort,  while  Kearton  and  the  rest  cf  the  party 
went  on  to  the  river. 


CHAPTER   XITI 

ALONE    IN    THE    CANNIBAL   COUNTRY 

MENTONI,  the  old  one-eyed  chief,  after  whom 
the  village  was  named,  bothered  me  so  the 
next  morning  by  constantly  hanging  round  and  point- 
ing out  the  various  belongings  of  mine  that  he  would 
be  glad  to  receive,  that  I  decided  to  move  on  to 
another  small  collection  of  huts  about  two  miles  away, 
whose  plantations  were  receiving  the  particular  atten- 
tion of  the  big  bull.  So  I  pitched  my  tent  in  the 
squalid  little  hamlet  of  five  or  six  huts,  and  tried, 
without  being  too  precipitant,  to  make  friends  with 
the  inhabitants. 

As  with  children  so  it  is  with  savages.  It  is  really 
best  to  be  entirely  unsuspicious,  and  to  have  the 
appearance  of  being  perfectly  at  home.  The  men 
were  all  armed  ;  they  did  not  seem  to  move,  even 
from  one  hut  to  the  other,  without  carrying  their 
bows  and  arrows.  On  their  left  wrist  was  a  little  bag 
of  monkey  skin  stuffed  with  dried  grass,  a  guard 
against  the  sharp  recoil  of  the  fibre  that  took  the 
place  of  bow-string. 

I  had  no  method  of  direct  communication  with 
them  except  by  signs,  but  1  was  told  that  there 
were    several    parties  of   hunters    looking   for   elephant. 

154 


^^ 


7J 


\- 


A    CHIEF     ON     THE     LOYA     RIVER 


IN   THE   CANNIBAL   COUNTRY        155 

I  took  a  book,  and,  sitting  under  a  tree,  began  to 
read. 

There  was  no  evidence  of  race  suicide  at  this 
place  ;  every  hut  contained  five  or  six  children,  from 
babes  in  arms  to  stark  naked  little  boys  and  girls 
of  ten  or  twelve.  They  stood  silently  about  at  a 
respectful  distance  and  gazed   at   me. 

The  first  really  friendly  overture  came  from  a 
woman,  who  brought  an  infant  of  some  five  or  six 
months  ot  age  with  a  very  sore  and  much  neglected 
foot,  the  result  of  tick  bite.  Before  evening  1  had 
tied  up  or  anointed  every  juvenile  thumb  or  toe  in 
the  place. 

Africa  is  a  land  of  sores  and  ulcers.  A  slight 
cut,  sometimes  a  mere  scratch,  will  develop  into 
an  ulcerated  spot,  and  even  the  elder  natives  do 
not  seem  to  be  immune.  How  they  recover  from 
wounds  in  battle,  or  their  self-inflicted  scars,  I  do 
not  understand. 

They  are  very  fond  of  their  children.  I  have  seen 
a  proud  young  father  dandle  and  play  with  his  baby 
by  tlie  hour,  or  walk  down  the  village  street  with 
two  young  toddlers  hanging  to  his  hands.  The  women 
also  take  good  care  of  their  little  ones,  and  a  girl 
child  of  ten  or  twelve  is  an  expert  nurse  to  her 
little  brothers  and  sisters.  Their  family  life  seems  to 
be  most  affectionate  and  kindly.  They  are  nearly 
always  good  humoured,  and,  barring  occasional  squab- 
bles, are  laughing  and  chattering  most  of  the  time. 
Yet    these    people,    certainly    ttiose    with    whom    I   was 


156        THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

stopping,  were  still  cannibals,  and  although  they  would 
deny  the  fact  to  strangers,  they  still  bartered  and 
traded  in  human   flesh. 

There  was  no  tribal  war,  but  if  a  death  took  place 
by  accident,  or  through  natural  causes,  the  body  was 
eaten.  1  was  told  tliat  it  was  customary  to  sell  it  to 
the  next  village.  I  am  quite  positive  that  while  1 
was  there  a  woman  was  thus  disposed  of  at  the  next 
little  village  to  the  one  in  which   I  was  stopping. 

No  elephants  were  reported  the  first  day.  I  had 
succeeded  in  purchasing  a  couple  of  scrawny  fowls 
and  some  eggs.  Why  the  inhabitants  of  Central 
Africa  keep  fowls  is  a  mystery,  for  I  have  never  heard 
of  one  being  eaten  by  their  black  owners.  Eggs  they 
never  touch,  and,  having  found  that  I  would  give 
beads  and  wire  in  exchange  for  them,  1  had  plenty 
offered  me.  It  did  not  make  any  difference  to 
the  would-be  barterers  whether  they  were  stale  or 
fresh — an  egg  was  an  egg:  that's  all  there  is  to  it. 
They  used  to  watch  me  testing  them  against  the 
light  with  the  greatest  interest,  and  could  not  imagine 
why  I  accepted  some  and  refused   others. 

The  first  night  I  spent  here  was  not  in  the  least 
enjoyable.  There  was  much  horn-blowing,  singing  and 
shouting  from  a  village  not  far  away,  and  in  the 
morning  men  and  women  appeared  with  their  bodies 
oiled  and  blackened,  some  of  them  quite  under  the 
influence  of  the  intoxicating  brew,   malwa. 

The  little  head  man  had  now  become  very  friendly, 
and    I    noticed    that    the    spears    and    bows  and    arrows 


IN   THE    CANNIBAL   COUNTRY        157 

were  no  loiiij^cr  carried,  hut  \\crc  Icit  Icaiuii.ij^  a^anst 
the  sides  of  the  huts.  The  htllc  chihhcu  had  got 
over  their  fear  of  me  entirely. 

During  the  somewhat  noisy  niglit  I  had  heen  rather 
touched  and  surprised  by  finding  Hakale  fast  asleep  at 
the  door  of  my  tent,  and  I  noticed  that  he  had 
placed  both  rifies  against  my  cot,  with  spare  cartridges 
under  the  pillow.  About  eleven  o'clock  on  the  third 
day  two  Walese  hunters  appeared  with  the  news  that 
they  had  found  the  elephants. 

The  big  bull  had  not  put  in  an  appearance  in  his 
wonted  haunts,  but  now  I  was  told  that  there  were 
many  elephants  off  to  the  east.  In  the  little  party 
that  sta3^ed  with  me  there  were  two  young  Mongwanas 
from  Lombura's  village,  and  excellent  fellows  they 
proved  to  be.  I  found  out  to  my  delight  that  one 
could  speak  a  little  Swahili,  As  we  were  about  to 
depart  Bakale  came  up  and  asked  to  go  also.  I  sug- 
gested that  he  had  better  stay  with  the  tent  and  take 
care  of  things.      His  reply  was  quite   characteristic. 

"These  people  are  all  bad,"  he  said;  "they  eat 
men  and  are  liars,  but  they  will  not  steal.  Let  me 
carry  the   big  gun  and  go  with  you." 

So  Bakale   came. 

We  must  have  gone  five  or  six  miles  beyond  the 
farthest  one  of  the  little  chain  of  villages  before  we 
came  across  the  track  of  the  herd.  It  was  very  large, 
for  the  grass  and  undergrowth  of  the  swamp  in  which 
we  found  ourselves  looked  as  if  a  tornado  had  been 
through    it.     The   footprints  and    the    spoor    were    \  ery 


158         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

fresh.  When  we  reached  the  edge  of  this  swampy 
ground  and  had  entered  the  forest  agaui,  one  of  the 
native  hunters — there  were  about  a  dozen  of  them  with 
us — cautioned  me  to  wait,  and  disappeared.  In  about 
two  minutes  he  came  back  again  ;  all  the  others  had 
gathered  with  him. 

They  pointed  oft  to  the  left.  Walking  very  care- 
fully we  had  gone  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  when  the 
leader  stopped,  and  then  motioned  me  to  go  forward.  I 
stepped  ahead  of  him,  and  looking  round  an  instant 
later,  found  I  was  practically  alone  ;  and  then  I  listened 
— -something  was  moving  not  more  than  twenty  or 
thirty  feet  away  on  the  left. 

Without  any  warning  but  a  rustle  of  the  leaves  the 
huge  head  of  an  elephant,  with  a  trunk  reaching  and 
feeling  for  the  wind,  appeared  directly  in  front  of  me. 
It  was  a  cow,  I  could  tell  by  the  small  brownish  tusks, 
and  actually  I  could  look  down  her  throat  !  Backing 
slowly,  I  got  out  of  that  before  she  saw  or  winded 
me. 

My  friends  the  trackers  were  not  five  yards  ofT. 
They  could  not  understand  my  not  having  shot,  but  I 
tried  to  explain  that  the  ivory  was  not  big  enough. 
And  now  arose  a  strange  sound  of  blowing,  and  a 
curious  rumbling  oft  to  the  right  and  the  left ;  then  the 
crashing  of  a  branch.  The  herd  was  coming  in  our 
direction.  All  the  men  turned,  silently  looking  over 
their  shoulders  at  me.  Then  one  of  them  started, 
walking  quickly,  and  in  single  file  we  moved  off  to- 
ward the  swamp. 


IN   THE   CANNIBAL   COUNTRY        159 

We  liad  almost  rcacheil  tlie  ed^c  of  the  very  deep- 
est wood  when  there  came  a  shrill  trum]-)etin^  scjueal. 
It  was  exactly  as  if  some  giant  had  severed  a  sheet  of 
cloth,  a  tearing,  ripping  sort  of  sound.  A  big  branch 
crashed  behind  us,  and  another  in  front.  The  loom  of 
a  great  shape  moving  black  through  the  leaves  appeared 
now  on  the  left.  The  herd  was  all  around  us  !  1  can- 
not say  that  it  was  a  pleasant  position. 

Bakale  shook  the  little  bag  of  flour  that  a  gun-bearer 
carries  at  his  belt,  in  order  to  find  the  direction  of  the 
wind.  There  seemed  to  be  not  a  breath  of  air  stirring. 
There  was  a  cracking  of  twigs,  and  a  little  elephant, 
not  more  than  four  or  five  feet  high,  shuffled  by  us 
within  a  few  yards.  Almost  instantly  a  large  cow  burst 
through  the  leaves,  and  so  close  was  she  that  she  did 
not  stop  an  instant.  She  saw  us.  With  trunk  stretched 
straight  out,  on  she  came,  her  great  ears  sweeping  the 
branches  on  either  side  of  our  head.  As  I  fired,  aim- 
ing directly  at  her  skull,  about  live  or  six  inches  above 
where  the  great  reaching  trunk  joined  it,  I  saw  that 
there  was  another  one  behind  her.  As  she  crashed 
down  I  fired  the  left  barrel  at  a  young  bull,  and  man- 
aged to  turn  him  so  that  he  passed  by.  The  cow  never 
moved  after  falling.  It  was  exactly  five  short  steps  to 
where  she  lay. 

At  the  sound  of  the  two  shots  pandemonium  rose; 
squealing  and  trumpeting,  and  a  great  crashing  and 
breaking  of  branches,  all  round  us.  Two  of  the  native 
hunters  ran  to  where  I  was  standing  and  knelt  beside 
me.     Bakale,   who    had   the    second    gun,   had    dodged 


i6o         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

behind  a  tree,  his  nerve  had  de>^erted  him,  and  when 
he  came  up  I  could  see  he  was  badly  frightened. 
The  negro  does  not  grow  pale,  but  under  great  ex- 
citement his  colour  seems  to  change ;  he  turns  a  sort 
of  ash  colour  round  the  lips.  Afterwards  Bakale  con- 
fessed that  he  had  never  gone  out  for  elephant  before, 
and  he  never  asked  to  go  again. 

1  should  say  it  was  fully  two  or  three  minutes 
before  the  smashing  and  crashing  subsided  entirely- 
As  for  my  own  immediate  sensations  they  had  better 
be  left  undescribed.  I  sat  down  on  the  dead  cow's 
shoulder  —  thus  covering  myself  with  elephant  ticks 
which  I  did  not  discover  until  later — and  wiped  my 
perspiring  forehead. 

The  jabbering  natives  now  came  up,  and  without 
more  to  do  began  to  hack  at  the  body.  Staggering 
under  a^  much  meat  as  they  could  carry,  they  led 
the  way  back  to  the  villages.  Immediately  w^e  arrived 
there  was  a  great  commotion,  everybody  seemed  ready 
to  start  to  the  place  where  the  elephant  lay. 

1  came  back  to  my  tent,  drank  four  cups  of  tea, 
and  ate  a  half  raw^  and  very  tough  chicken.  But  this 
was  not  to  be  my  only  experience  for  the  twenty- 
four  hours.  The  moon  rose  quite  early  and  was  at 
the  full,  and  I  was  just  about  to  turn  in  when  I  heard 
the  sound  of  some  excited  whispering  outside  the 
tent.  One  of  the  Mongwanas,  who  had  accompanied 
me   in   the   morning,  entered  with   Bakale. 

"  Tembo,  mingi,  mingi,  caribu  maginni  bwana." 
(There  are   many  elephants  round   the  village,   master.) 


A     FAMILY     GROUP     IN     A     FOREST     VILLAGE 


A     SCOWLING     WELCOME     FROM     A     LADY     CANNIBAL 


IN    THE   CANNIBAL   COUNTRY        i6i 

"  Teiiibo  niakuhwa  hapa."  (The  l)i^  cicpliaiit  is 
here.) 

I  stepped  outside.  The  moonhglit  was  so  bright 
that  even  the  colours  showed  plainly.  The  green  of 
the  leaves,  the  grey  thatch  of  the  hut,  and  the  red 
blossoms  of  some  flowering  shrub  could  be  made  out 
distinctly.  Testing  the  rifle  I  found  that  I  could  see 
the  sights  well  enough  for  close  shooting.  It  was 
rather  a  foolish  thing  to  do,  but  I  went  after  the 
elephants. 

Following  the  three  or  four  guides  down  a  path 
through  the  overgrown  plantation,  it  was  quite  exciting. 
The  two  Mongwanas  were  with  me,  and  one  of  them 
took  the  spare  rifle.  I  carried  the  big  rifle  myself. 
I  do  not  think  that  a  better  gun-bearer  can  be 
found  than  the  average  native  tracker.  His  faith  in 
the  white  man  and  in  the  weapon  itself  is  so  certain 
that  he  is  absolutely  sure  not  to  desert  you,  and  he 
is  never  tempted  to  do  what  a  professional  gun-bearer  is 
often  led  to  do    by  excitement,   he   never  fires  himself. 

Bakale  had  better  sense  than  I  had,  and  staved  in 
the  village.  To  make  a  long  story  short,  when  we 
got  into  the  deep  underbrush  it  was  quite  as  dark 
as  one  might  have  expected  to  find  it;  the  moonlight 
did  not  penetrate  the  overhanging  boughs.  But  siill 
the  guides  pressed  ahead,  and  we  emerged  at  last 
into  the  open  space  of  an  old  plantation.  It  was  very 
pleasant  to  get  out  of  the  dark  green  tunnels  through 
which  we  had  been  passing.  1  breathed  a  sigii  ol 
relief. 


i62         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

Other  natives  now  appeared,  they  came  up  grin- 
ning, somewhat  excited.  After  consultatioii  among 
them  we  started  forward  again.  A  reedbuck  burst 
forward  with  a  snort  and  a  bark  out  of  the  bushes, 
and  dashed  in  front  of  us.  The  horns  were  blow- 
ing now  in  all  the  villages,  for  the  presence  of  the 
elephants  was  known. 

We  passed  by  the  ruins  of  some  abandoned 
huts,  plunged  into  the  undergrowth  again,  and  came 
out  once  more  on  the  edge  of  an  old  clearing,  and 
there  we  stopped.  One  of  the  Mongwanas,  he  who 
was  carrying  the  spare  gun,  touched  my  arm,  and 
pointed.  Against  the  moonlit  sky,  crossing  the  path 
by  which  we  had  come,  there  could  just  be  made 
out  the  backs  of  two  or  three  big  elephants,  tlie 
rounded  tops  of  their  ears  laid  close  against  their 
shoulders.     They  were,  perhaps,  some  fifty  yards  away. 

When  they  reached  our  fresh  tracks  they  stopped 
and  began  blowing.  I  could  see  their  big  trunks 
waving  in  the  air.  A  little  man  with  a  spear,  who 
stood  in  front  of  me,  took  liold  of  my  sleeve  and 
pointed  forward.  There  were  some  shrubs  and  bushes 
ten  or  fifteen  feet  high  through  which  the  path  led, 
and,  plain  to  be  seen,  there  was  something  white 
gleaming  there. 

1  did  not  like  the  elephants  being  behind  us,  but 
went  forward  until  we  reached  the  edge  of  the  under- 
growth. There  the  little  spearman  knelt  and  pointed 
again.  In  the  corner  of  the  old  potato  field  stood 
the    big    bull,   certainly  not  more  than  sixty  or  seventy 


IN    THE   CANNIBAL   COUNTRY        163 

feet  away.  It  was  the  ^leain  of  his  tusks  thai  1  had 
caught  a  miiuitc   or  so   hcfore. 

He  was  really  a  inaguilicent  sight  in  the  bright 
moonlight.  The  ivory  points  nearly  swept  the  ground. 
He  did  not  appear  to  be  in  the  least  alarmed,  yet 
he  was  listening  as  he  stood  swaying,  for  his  great 
ears  were  standing  out  on  either  side  of  his  head 
like  the  steering  sails  of  an  old-fashioned  frigate.  I 
knelt  down,  it  was  a  good  chance  for  a  head  or  a 
heart  shot,  and  I  raised  the  express.  A  branch  of 
the  bushes  surrounding  me  caught  the  gun  barrel  and 
prevented  me  Irom  getting  a  sight  at  his  head.  Lift- 
ing his  ponderous  feet  the  bull  began  to  turn.  1  fired 
two  shots  as  quickly  as  I  could,  one  at  the  point  of 
the  shoulder  and  the  other  at  the  hip.  The  huge 
beast  staggered,  and  plunged  forward  into  the  bushes. 

The  Mongwana  who  was  carrying  the  spare  rifle 
thrust  it  into  my  hand.  The  elephants  who  were  be- 
hind us  had  turned  into  the  path;  I  could  just  make 
out  a  big  head  and  outstanding  ears  above  the 
bushes,  and  again  fired  quickly.  The  animal  swerved 
to  the  right,  and  with  his  two  companions  passed  by 
us.  There  must  have  been  a  number  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, for  we  could  hear  them  crashing  oti.  One,  we 
were  told  later,  went  by  within  a  few  yards  of  the 
village  where   I  had  pitched  my  tent. 

The  horns  had  stopped  blowing,  and  when  we  got 
back  the  whole  place  was  excited.  The  women  and  chil- 
dren were  out,  and  the  men  who  had  accom|Kinicd  me 
began  to  relate  the  story.     1  could   hear  them  imitating 


i64         THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

the  sound  of  the  gun.  The  calm  that  they  had  shown 
while  following  the  elephants  was  missing.  They 
cackled  and  gesticu'ated,  and  long  after  I  had  gone  to 
my  tent  and  laid  down  on  the  cot,  suffering  a  little 
from  the  reaction  myself,  I  could  hear  them  still  at  it. 

The  human  mind  is  a  strange  thing,  and  Nature 
takes  care  of  herself  ;  as  soon  as  I  had  removed  my 
boots  I  fell  fast  asleep,  and  was  only  awakened  when 
Bakale  touched  me  on  the  shoulder.  To  my  surprise 
I  found  it  was  almost  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
As  I  took  the  cup  of  coffee  Bakale  offered  he  in- 
formed me  that  Mentoni,  the  chief,  had  come  over 
from  the  village,  and  wanted  to  •  see  me.  The  old 
rascal  was  alone  ;  there  was  not  another  man  to  be 
seen  round  the  place. 

Through  the  medium  of  my  Mongvvana  boy  and 
Bakale,  the  chief  informed  me  that  all  the  elephants 
had  left ;  they  had  gone  far  away.  His  men  had 
searched  everywhere,  and  could  find  no  trace  of  them. 
He  expressed  his  gratitude,  and  said  that  if  I  wished 
to  go  on  to  Kifiku  he  now  could  provide  me  with 
porters  for  the  journey. 

I  was  certain  of  three  things  :  the  first  was  that  the 
big  bull  elephant  was  badly  hit.  and  would  not  go 
far ;  that  the  upraised  trunk  of  the  second  elephant 
had  probably  protected  his  brain,  or  he  would  have 
dropped  instantly;  and  that  old  Mentoni  was  lying. 
He  wanted  the  ivory  for  himself.  So  I  quietly  informed 
him  that  I  intended  to  remain  until  the  big  elephant 
vvas  found  ;    that   he  was  lying  dead  not  far  away,  and 


^ 


THE    TWO    HEAD    TRACKERS 


M-<  ^, 


MKNTONl  S    BROTHER     RE-TAH.ING     THE     BIG     ELEPHANT 


IN   THE   CANNIBAL   COUNTRY        165 

I  intended  to  search  for  him.  I  knew  tliat  the  me:i  of 
this  httle  village  were  very  friendly  toward  nic,  and 
that  it  was  merely  a  question  of  time  hefore  I  should 
get  news.  So  I  quietly  seated  myself  and  hegan  a 
breakfast  of  some   carefully  chosen  eggs. 

Mentoni  squatted  there  scowling.  Just  before  noon 
the  little  sub -chief  appeared  carrying  the  elephant's 
tail.  Calling  my  own  small  force,  I  picked  up  the 
camera,  and  with  the  tw^o  Mongwanas,  who  did  not 
show  any  surprise  at  what  had  happened,  we  followed 
the  guide  through  the  plantations  and  the  bushes  we 
had  traversed  the  night  before,  and  came  upon  a  jab- 
bering crowd  of  nearly  a  hundred  surrounding  the 
body  of  the  big  tusker. 

As  I  had  suspected  he  had  not  gone  three  hundred 
yards.  Mentoni,  who  had  accompanied  us,  was  a  little 
chagrined,  but  I  pretended  not  to  notice  him.  They 
had  already  begun  cutting  up  the  elephant.  The  light 
w^as  very  bad  for  taking  photographs,  but  I  secured  one 
or  two,  one  of  which  shows  Mentoni's  brother  holding 
the  elephant's  tail  in  place. 

The  tusks  were  magnificent  specimens,  the  longest 
one,  measured  round  the  curve,  being  nine  feet  four 
inches,  and  the  other  but  three  or  four  inches  shorter. 

Now,  my  interest  in  all  this  is  easy  to  exjilain  ;  lor 
the  nonce  I  had  turned  professional  elephant  iuintcr. 
Our  friend  the  trader  at  KiHku  had  told  us  lie  would 
take  all  the  ivory  that  we  got  ofT  our  hands  at  a  good 
market  price.  A  remittance  that  we  had  expected  to 
get    from    London    before  we    left  civilisation    had    not 


i66         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

arrived,  and  the  truth  was  that  we  needed  the  money. 
The  resiUts  of  this  shooting  trip  netted  us  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  £100. 

Before  the  afternoon  was  over  the  tusks  were  de- 
livered at  my  tent.  I  also  tasted  some  elephant's  meat 
from  the  foot.  1  think  I  preferred  the  tough  chicken 
on  the  whole. 

But  I  was  not  through  yet  with  Mentoni.  That 
evening  about  dusk  two  men  from  his  village  walked 
in,  deliberately  shouldered  the  tusks  that  weighed  some- 
thing under  one  hundred  pounds  apiece,  and  walked 
ofif  with  them.  The  villagers  were  grouped  about, 
evidently  waiting  to  see  what  I  would  do.  There 
were  some  men  from  Mentoni's  village  there  with 
bows  and  spears, 

I  laughed  as  if  it  was  all  a  good  joke,  and  sat 
down  to  a  quiet  pipe.  The  next  morning  the  ivory 
was  returned.  But  twice  more  was  it  taken.  In  every 
case  1  behaved  in  the  same  way  and  received  it  back 
again. 

Now,  I  cannot  truthfully  say  that  I  enjoyed  all  these 
proceedings.  I  sent  word  to  the  chief  of  the  big 
village  that  I  was  now  ready  for  the  porters  that  he 
had  promised  me,  but  he  sent  back  no  answer.  There 
was  evidently  a  big  pow-wow  going  on  at  headquarters. 
In  the  meantime  I  had  divided  my  stock  of  trade 
stufT,  cloth,  coloured  undershirts,  wire,  beads,  and 
jumbies  among  the  men  of  the  little  village,  that  was 
gorging  itself  with  elephant  meat.  I  could  do  what  I 
pleased    there    now.      1    succeeded  in  stopping    one  or 


kki^ 


t . 


fP?! 


THE     SCRIBE     WITH     TROPHIES     OF     THE     BIG     TUSKER 


IN   THE   CANNIBAL  COUNTRY        167 

two  little  fights  that  arose,  and  out  ot  curiosity  visited 
the  body  of  the  big  elephant.  Not  a  vestige  of  meat 
of  any  kind  was  left,  only  the  skull  and  the  huge 
pelvis  bone.  There  was  actually  hardly  enough  for 
the   Hies. 

By  this  time  the  news  had  spread  through  the 
whole  countryside.  Two  or  three  other  chiefs  had 
sent  in  messengers  asking  me  to  come  and  shoot 
elephant  for  them.  I  believe  I  could  have  stopped 
in  the  neighbourhood  a  month  with  perfect  safety. 
But  we  had  got  what  we  were  after,  and  had  shot 
all  that  our  licences  allowed  for,  and  1  was  anxious 
to  get  ofif. 

My  ivory  was  left  unmolested  that  evening,  and  at 
a  call  for  volunteers  in  the  early  morning  the  whole 
village  responded,  men,  boys  and  children.  Before 
evening  we  had  reached  the  river  landing  in  safety. 

The  news  that  I  had  shot  the  big  loull  was  in  Kifiku 
ahead  of  us.  The  ivory  was  weighed  and  promptly 
paid  for  by  the  trading  company  in  Belgian  Congo 
notes,  and  miscellaneous  five  franc  pieces,  that  ranged 
from  Napoleon  I.  and  Louis  XVIII.   to  Leopold   U. 

But  now  another  trouble  awaited  us.  Despite  all 
of  old  Lombura's  promises,  and  the  kindly  offices  of 
the  superintendent  who  had  taken  M.  Delporte's  place, 
we  could  not  get  porters  to  take  us  on  to  Penghe,  a 
fortnight's  marching  to  the  westward. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

ON   Stanley's   trail 

THE  continued  irritations  that  we  suffered  with 
the  unobhging  native  in  the  form  of  porter, 
paddler,  and  petty  chief,  would,  if  recorded  verbatim 
and  seriatim,  read  Hke  a  series  of  complaints  ;  and 
were  it  not  for  the  bright  spots  occasioned  by  the 
rare  chances  lor  taking  good  pictures,  and  the  novelty 
of  several  situations,  the  account  of  the  first  fortnight 
of  our  march  through  the  forest  and  much  of  it 
thereafter  might  be   gloomy  reading. 

Travelling  in  a  wild  country  where  life  is  hard 
and  time  counts  for  nothing  with  the  native — and 
mean  everything  to  the  traveller — has  the  effect  of 
limiting  to  a  certain  extent  not  only  one's  enjoyment, 
but  one's  mental  vision.  There  is  very  little  time  for 
making  careful  notes  or  recording  interesting  obser- 
vations. One  lives  up  to  an  insistent  schedule.  It 
is:  up  at  earliest  dawn  with  so  many  miles  ahead  to 
the  next  resting  place,  so  many  hours  to  travel  in, 
and,  arriving  at  last,  dominated  by  the  desire  to  lie 
down  and  sleep,  only  by  the  sheerest  will  power  can 
one  summon  enough  energy  to  write  a  few  words 
in  the  diary. 

There    is   the   constant  worry  whether  all  the   loads 


A    MONGWANA    MOHAMMEDAN     TEACHER    AND     HIS    WIVES 


EX-SLAVE    RAIDERS 


MONGWANA    WOMKN    SINGING 


A     MONGWANA     PANCI', 


ON   STANLEY'S  TRAIL  169 

will  come  in  before  dark,  or  whether  some  tired  and 
irresponsible  black  will  chuck  his  burden  in  the  forest 
and  fail  to  report  at  all.  There  is,  moreover,  a  growing 
sense  of  depression  in  the  deep  forest  that  in  the 
open  country  does  not  follow  even  the  longest  and 
hardest  march — sunlight  is  essential  to  the  white  man. 

Owing  to  old  Lombura's  broken  promises  we  had 
been  delayed  at  Kifiku  for  five  days.  ^Vitll()ut  his 
help  we  could  secure  no  porters,  and  were  forced 
at  last  to  start  leaving  eight  loads  behind  us,  loads 
that  were  supposed  to  catch  us  up  as  soon  as  porters 
could  be  secured.  As  we  had  already  paid  exorbitantly 
we  refused  to  give  more  matabeesh,  knowing  that  it 
was  not  for  lack  of  men  in  his  village  that  he  kept 
us  waiting,  for  there  were  plenty  of  idle  loafers  loll- 
ing about  in  the  shade  of  the   huts. 

The  Mongwanas  and  the  Manyuemas  are  not  fond 
of  labour.  In  the  first  place  tiiey  are  almost  without 
exception  Mohammedan,  and  were  the  slave  raiders 
and  ivory  stealers,  who  under  the  Arab  traders'  influence 
and  the  regime  of  Tippu-Tib,  had  wrought  havoc  and 
destruction  among  the  Central  African  tribes  for  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century.  It  is  only  during  the  past 
twelve  years  or  so  that  their  power  has  begun  to 
wane. 

The  day  before  we  left  Kifiku  we  had  visited 
Lombura's  village,  and,  hearing  the  sound  of  drimis 
and  singing,  had  entered  a  courtyard,  at  the  back  of 
one  of  the  larger  houses,  surprising  a  native  dance  in 
full  swing. 


170         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

Although  our  presence  had  not  interrupted  the 
proceedings,  we  were  not  welcome  guests.  In  fact  by 
the  scowls  cast  in  our  direction  we  were  evidently 
considered  intruders,  and  after  taking  a  few  pictures 
we  were  glad  to  withdraw. 

What  the  dance  was  meant  to  represent  or  the 
occasion  for  it,  we  could  not  make  out.  The  dancers 
themselves  were  mainly  women,  and  appeared  to  be  in 
a  state  of  maudlin  frenzy;  stamping,  whirling  about, 
and  bumping  into  one  another,  without  any  concerted 
action,  but  paying  some  attention  nevertheless  to  the 
wild  rhythm  of  the  tom-toms. 

We  were  informed  that  already  the  dance  had  been 
going  on  for  some  twelve  or  fourteen  hours.  Often, 
the  trader  informed  us,  these  wild  orgies  were  kept 
up  for  days. 

As  I  have  stated,  we  needed  but  eight  porters  to 
complete  our  full  quota,  and  there  were  thrice  that 
number  of  able-bodied  young  men  in  the  crowded 
courtyard,  but  dancing  for  twenty-four  hours  at  a 
stretch  was  probably  easier  than  marching  for  five  or 
six  hours,  at  least  to  the  minds  of  the  ex-raiders. 

We  were  travelling  against  time  now,  for  we  knew 
approximately  the  date  on  which  the  steamer  that  left 
Stanleyville  would  pass  by  Basoko  at  tlie  mouth  of  the 
Aruwimi,  some  two  hundred  miles  to  the  westward, 
and  failure  to  catch  that  steamer  meant  another  month 
added  to  the  time  it  would  take  us  to  reach  the  end  of 
our  long  journey  to  where  the  murky  Congo  swept 
out  into  the  salt  waters  of  the  Atlantic. 


ON   STANLEY'S   TRAIL  171 

If  men  remembered  on'y  hardships  there  are  certain 
portions  of  their  lives,  and  experiences,  tluit  nothing 
could  induce  them  to  go  through  again,  but  luckily 
for  human  nature  the  mind  endeavours  to  erase  the 
recollection  of  the  disagreeable.  Painful  impressions 
are  but  transient  compared  to  the  mental  records  of 
the  pleasurable,   or  even  of  the  amusing. 

A  group  of  old  campaigners  at  a  regimental  reunion 
seldom  dwell  on  the  dangers  or  discomforts  through 
which  they  have  passed.  Time  tempers  all  these 
things ;  the  close  touch  with  them  seems  to  be  for- 
gotten. I  intend  to  pick  out  henceforth  the  brighter 
portion  of  a  very  toilsome  and  difficult  time,  abandon- 
ing search  in  the  pages  of  my  uninspiritive  diary  for 
any  assistance  to  memory.  But  if  a  little  uncheerful- 
ness  creeps  in  it  must  be  remembered  that  these 
things  are  very  recent  at  this  present  writing. 
The  effects  even  yet  are  with  the  Scribe  and  the 
Photographer  in  tangible  form. 

In  the  first  place,  over  nine  months  of  constant 
moving  and  working  on  the  Equator  had  borne  results. 
Both  Kearton  and  myself  had  begun  to  show  symptoms 
of  tropical  disturbances.  Sometimes  it  was  a  bit  of  a 
fight  to  keep  up.  Our  dispositions  seemed  ruined, 
conversation  waned  at  meal  time,  and  quip  and  jest 
were  conspicuous  by  their  absence.  Curiously  enough 
it  was  along  this  very  route  that  Stanley  made  this 
observation — "Some  facts  had  already  impressed  them- 
selves upon  us.  We  observed  that  the  mornings  were 
muggy  and  misty — that  we  were  chilly  and   inclined  to 


172         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

be  cheerless  in  consequence ;  that  it  required  some 
moral  courage  to  leave  camp  to  brave  the  cold,  damp, 
and  fogginess  without,  to  brave  the  mud  and  slush,  to 
ford  creeks  up  to  the  waist  in  water ;  that  the  feelings 
wxre  terribly  depressed  in  the  dismal  twilight  from  the 
want  of  brightness  and  sunshine  warmth  ;  and  the 
depression  caused  by  the  sombre  clouds  and  dull  grey 
river  which  reflected  the  drear  daylight.  The  actual 
temperature  on  these  cold  mornings  was  but  seventy 
to  seventy-two  degrees — had  we  judged  of  it  by  our 
cheerlessness  it  might  have  been  twent}^  degrees  less." 

I  think  on  the  whole  we  had  better  luck  with  the 
weather  than  did  the  great  explorer  whose  footsteps 
we  were  now  retracing.  We  did  not  have  to  fight 
our  way,  and  when  at  last  we  reached  water  navigable 
for  canoes,  we  were  going  down  stream  and  not  up, 
a  fact  decidedly  to  our  advantage.  But  the  country 
had  not  changed  for  thousands  of  years,  and  it  will 
not  change  for  a  thousand  years  to  come. 

Whether  there  are  now  more  people  along  the 
route  than  there  were  in  1888,  when  Stanley's  dead 
and  dying  left  their  sickly  bones  along  this  very  route, 
it  is  hard  to  tell.  Possibly  they  were  more  then  than 
they  are  at  present,  but  who  could  ever  take  the 
census  of  the  dwellers  in  a  forest  land  that  without  a 
single  break  covers  an  extent,  compactly  and  closely 
grown,  of  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand 
square  miles  ?  Who  can  describe  this  vast  area  where 
the  new  life,  that  takes  ages  to  grow,  springs  up  from 
the  decay  of   the  life  that  has  taken  ages  in  dying? 


THE    PHOTOGRAPHER    CATCHING     BUTTERFLIES    IN    A 
FOREST    GLADE 


THE    ARMADILLO 


•^- 


L 


L^'f 


A    HORNED    VIPER 


ON    STANLEY'S   TRAIL  173 

Yet  it  is  not  witliout  its  beauties,  nor  is  it  without 
those  feathered  antl  furred  inhabitants  wlio  revel  in 
its  solitutles,  those  lucky  ones  who  can  seek  the 
warmth  and  sunlight  of  the  upper  strata  and  higher 
altitudes  of  green.  Invisible  inhabitants  they  are  for 
the  most  part,  yet  their  voices  continually  reached  us  ; 
hoarse  barks  and  chatterings,  and  the  swaying  of  lofty 
branches  told  us  of  the  presence  of  the  monkeys. 
Occasionally  we  saw  them,  and  not  a  moment  of  day- 
light but  what  w'as  filled  with  the  calling  and  the  chat- 
tering of  the  birds. 

How  many  times  we  sought  to  find  the  where- 
abouts of  those  unseen  ventriloquists;  how  seldom 
were  we  rewarded ;  yet  they  w^ere  there  above  us, 
while  close  to  us  down  the  pathways,  elusive  and 
fast-ffying,  were  the  brilliant  butterflies,  seemingly 
aware  by  instinct  of  the  sweeping  net.  When  near 
the  clearings  where  villages  existed,  or  once  had  been, 
we  got  clearer  glimpses  of  the  parrots,  swifts,  sunbirds, 
finches,  shrikes,  whip-poor-wills,  bee-eaters,  pigeons, 
jays,  and  hornbills. 

Over  tlie  larger  streams  we  saw%  in  flight,  fish 
eagles,  and  kites  of  various  kinds,  herons  and  ibis,  but 
ducks  and  geese  we  seldom  saw,  possibly  because 
they  are  too  easy  prey  for  lurking  crocodile. 

Underfoot,  and  along  the  paths,  the  ground  seemed 
full  of  insects,  ants  and  beetles,  scorpions,  and  centi- 
pedes, and  there  were  many  poisonous  snakes.  Kear- 
ton  t  ad  had  a  very  narrow  escape  on  the  Thika  River 
from  being  bitten,   having  stepped    on   a    sleeping  puff 


174         THROUGH    CENTRAL   AFRICA 

adder  as  big  as  a  man's  arm,  that  had  struck  at  him, 
and  missed  by  a  few  inches.  In  searching  for  a 
dropped  key  to  my  box  at  Kifiku  I  had  lifted  the 
ground  cloth,  and  found  my  fingers  within  an  inch 
of  the  head  of  a  horned  viper  that  had  crawled  under, 
and  had  been  my  companion  possibly  for  days  and 
nights. 

Oh  this  forest,  pulsating  with  omnipresent  life, 
yet  so  redolent  of  death  and  decay  !  As  it  was  in  the 
beginning  so  shall  it  be.  I  recall  what  Stanley  wrote, 
and  so  vivid  is  it  I  feel  that  I  must  put  it  down.  Thus  he 
speaks  of  the  insect  armies,  of  the  denizens  and  inhabi- 
tants of  almost  every  foot  of  ground:  "That  mighty 
mass  of  dead  tree,  brown  and  porous  as  a  sponge,  is 
a  mere  semblance  of  a  prostrate  log.  Within  it  is  alive 
with  minute  tribes.  Put  your  ear  to  it,  and  you  hear 
a  distant  murmurous  hum.  It  is  the  stir  and  move- 
ment of  insect  life  in  many  forms,  matchless  in  size, 
glorious  in  colour,  radiant  in  livery,  rejoicing  in  their 
occupations,  exultant  in  their  fierce  but  brief  life,  most 
insatiate  of  their  kind,  ravaging,  foraging,  fighting,  des- 
troying, building,  and  swarming  everywhere  and  explor- 
ing everything.  Lean  but  your  hand  on  a  tree,  measure 
but  your  length  on  the  ground,  seat  yourself  on  a 
fallen  branch,  and  you  will  then  understand  what  venom, 
fury,  voracity,  and  activity  breathes  around  you.  Open 
your  notebook,  the  page  attracts  a  dozen  butterflies, 
a  honey-bee  hovers  over  your  hand ;  other  forms  of 
bees  dash  for  your  eyes,  a  wasp  buzzes  in  your  ear,  a 
huge  hornet    menaces  your    face,  an  army  of  pismires 


Ik 


m  '^ 


u 


M'l-f-f^' 


AN    EDIBLE    LIZARD 


ON   STANLEY'S   TRAIL  175 

come  marching  to  your  feet.  Some  are  already  crawl- 
ing up  and  will  {presently  he  digging  their  scissor-like 
mandihies  in  your  neck." 

The  patlnv'ay  ran  continually  through  the  thick 
lower  covering  ot  dwarf  hush,  amoina  and  phiynia, 
whose  blossoms  and  hright  herries  added  a  touch  of 
colour  against  the  everlasting,  hut  constantly  changing, 
shades  of  green.  Sometimes  the  scents  that  were 
diffused  from  the  huds  and  blossoms  were  almost  over- 
powering. Had  there  been  a  botanist  in  the  party  he 
could  have  reaped  rich  reward.  Mushrooms  and  fungi 
of  all  sorts  protruded  from  the  rotting  masses  of  dead 
foliage,  but  no  sooner  did  one  spring  into  existence 
than  the  insects  claimed  it. 

The  great  snake-like  vines,  and  convolvuli,  seemed 
bent  on  throttling  out  of  existence  even  the  larger  trees. 
At  times  the  parasitic  growth  was  so  twisted  and  em- 
bedded round  the  trunk  and  limbs  of  the  supporting 
fabric,  that  there  appeared  nothing  left  but  the  bodies 
of  huge  seipents  standing  erect,  and  reaching,  and  ever 
reaching  for  further  holds,  for  more  to  strangle. 

Orchids  depended  from  overhanging  limbs,  and 
lichens  and  hanging  beards  of  moss  gave  gnome-like 
aspect  to  some  growths  apparently  stimted  in  their 
youth. 

Along  the  edges  of  the  river  and  the  streams  there 
was  a  chance  for  the  larger  trees  to  grow  out  horizont- 
ally, as  if  exulting  in  their  elbow  room,  delighted  to 
be  free  of  their  near-by  neighbours.  We  ha\e  seen 
great  limbs,   almost    the  same  size  as  the  parent  stem, 


176        THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

sweeping  out  some  fifty  or  sixty  feet,  where  they 
could  find  freedom  to  grow,   and  air  and  sunlight. 

Occasionally  as  we  progressed  we  would  come  across 
old  clearings  where  populous  villages  had  been.  After 
three  years  of  abandonment  they  were  nothing  but  a 
wild  and  almost  impossible  jungle.  The  path  crossed 
great  logs,  and  led  along  extending  branches  ;  it  dived 
under  huge  stems,  and  appeared  lost  at  times  in  an 
intricate  maze  of  debris  and  growing  things. 

Sometimes  we  would  hear  the  "chip-chop"  of 
native  axes  where  the  inhabitants  were  clearing  out  new 
spaces  in  which  to  plant  their  scanty  orchards  of 
bananas.  The  trunks  of  the  trees  were  always  cut  some 
ten  to  fifteen  feet  above  the  ground,  the  men  working 
from  scaffoldings,  and  the  severed  trees  being  allowed 
to  fall  pell  mell  in  all  directions. 

On  this  route  to  Penghe  we  made  fourteen  camps ; 
not  camps  exactly,  but  stopping  places  in  native  villages. 
In  some  we  found  fairly  good  rest-houses,  in  others 
tumble-down  shacks  teeming  with  ticks,  and  requiring 
much  sweeping  out  before  they  were  habitable. 

We  were  taking  a  new  route  to  Avakubi,  the  old 
Mawambi  trail  having  been  abandoned  for  some  months. 
There  was  little  food  to  be  found  for  the  porters.  At 
every  stopping  place  they  could  be  seen  searching  and 
digging  for  manioc  roots  and  potatoes.  Many  times 
the  local  chiefs  came  to  us  and  complained  that  they 
had  but  little  food  themselves,  and  that  our  men  were 
despoiling  them.  They  accepted  mataheesh  with  bad 
grace.     It  did  not  take  the  place  of  their  much  needed 


POUNDING     KICE 


THE    HOUSE    OF     A     SPIRIT    CHIEF 


A  CLAY  TOTEM  AT  THE  HUT  OF  A  DEAD  CHIEF 


ON   STANLEY'S   TRAIL  177 

food.  In  some  of  the  new  villages  the  |")laiit;iiiis  ami 
endesis  had  not  begun  to  hear.  Rice  was  a  hixury. 
Sometimes  we  would  find  womer.  iiounding  it  in  mor- 
tars made  of  hollow  logs,  and  securing  a  lew  haiuHuls 
of  white  rice   ffour. 

We  saw  but  very  few  specimens  of  [  a^m  trees, 
although  the  tree  fern  was  very  pre\aknt.  When 
transportation  reaches  the  great  forest  there  may  be 
fortunes  to  be  found  in  the  hard  wood  growth,  tor 
there  is  an  everlasting  supply  of  mahogany,  teak,  lig- 
num vitae,   ebony,   camwood,   and  the  valuable   copal. 

Although  we  saw^  evidence  ot  the  presence  of 
elephant  and  the  forest  buffalo,  and  once  the  foot- 
prints of  a  large  okapi,  our  guns  were  never  taken  from 
their    cases. 

At  Campi  na  Mambuti  we  met  a  strange  character — 
a  sub-chief  named  Musa.  He  claimed  to  be  originally 
a  Manyuema,  but  in  my  opinion  he  was  a  Zanzibar! 
who  had  deserted  from  Stanley's  caravan,  as  to  oiu^ 
surprise  he  spoke  a  few  words  in  English,  and  could 
call  some  of  Stanley's  companions  by  name.  Especi- 
ally did  he  remember  Dr.  Parke,  whom  he  described, 
in  fluent  Sw^ahili,  as  a  "  Musuiigo  Musiiri  Sana  " — a 
very    good  white  man  indeed. 

He  was  the  only  head  man  who  disj'»layed  any  real 
generosity,  for  of  his  own  free  will  he  presented  us 
with  three  fat  fowls,  and  allowed  us  to  puicliase  a 
goat  without  haggling. 

At  last  we  reached  Penghe,  the  head  of  canoe  navi- 
gation,  and    here  we  were    met  with  another    smprise. 


17^         THROUGH    CENTRAL   AFRICA 

The  chef  de  poste,  a  youiij^  Belgian,  informed  us  that 
there  were  no  canoes  available  for  at  least  a  fortnight, 
and  as  we  had  to  dismiss  our  Kifiku  bearers  here,  we 
were  further  dismayed  by  being  told  that  it  would 
take  ten  days  to  drum  up  enough  porters  to  take  us 
over  the  foot  trail  into  Avakubi. 

Since  leaving  Lombura's  village  we  had  stopped  at 
the  following  places,  the  names  of  which  I  had  set 
down,  and  had  camped  at  one  or  two  others  that 
seemed  to  have  no  names  at  all :  Campi  na  Mambuti, 
Djapanda,  Makoko,  Campi  na  Bulongo,  Umali,  Pene- 
mafupu,  Kingombe,  Fundi  Kitima,  Mana  Pela,  Pene- 
kiluvu,  Penghe.  We  had  also  forded  or  been  ferried 
across  three  rivers — the  Etito,  the  Epulu,  and  the 
Epini. 

The  anticipation  of  having  to  wait  at  Penghe  was 
far  from  pleasant.  It  behoved  us  to  stir  and  see  what 
could  be  done. 


CHAPTER   XV 

P  E  N  G  H  E     T  O     A  \  A  K  U  B  I 

THE  Belgian  officials,  whom  wc  had  met  at  Irumii, 
had  been  more  than  kind  to  us,  extending  aid 
in  every  way,  and  it  might  be  in  place  here  to  express 
our  gratitude  to  all  the  others  whom  we  met  on  our 
long  journey.  But  it  did  not  take  a  close  observance 
to  perceive  that  the  power  of  the  Belgian  authority 
was  on  the  wane  with  the  native.  Only  two  or  three 
years  before,  so  Stronge  had  informed  us,  the  officers 
of  the  Belgian  posts  had  charge  of  all  transport  service, 
either  by  land  or  by  water,  and  there  was  a  fixed  rate 
for  transportation  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Belgian 
Congo.  Now  it  seemed  that  all  this  was  changed,  the 
native  appeared  to  be  in  a  position  to  ask  any  price 
he  liked  for  his  time,  and  it  was  a  case  of  "take  him 
or  leave  him  " — it  did  not  matter  much,  so  far  as  he 
was  concerned. 

The  chef  de  poste  at  Penghe  was  a  very  young 
man  who  was  just  completing  his  first  term  of  ser- 
vice, and  I  do  not  think  that  he  had  the  slightest  in- 
tention of  returning  to  Central  Africa. 

Penghe  was  a  dreary  place,  a  comparatively  new 
clearing  on  the  right  bank  of  the   river,  that  here  was 

not    more    than    a    hundred    yards    in  width,   and    very 

179 


i8o         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

shallow.  At  Irumu  we  had  been  told  that  canoes 
were  available,  but  owing  to  low  water  the  landing 
place  had  been  moved  to  a  considerable  distance 
down  stream,   and  there  were  no  canoes. 

At  Penghe  we  ran  across  a  Mr.  Reid,  one  of  the 
earliest  and  most  successful  of  the  Congo  gold  seekers, 
he  having  discovered  the  deposits  that  led  to  the  for- 
mation of  the  Fourminiere  Company,  whose  head- 
quarters were  at  Brussels.  I  had  met  him  there  in 
February,  1913.  Mr.  Reid  had  a  camp  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river.  When  we  arrived  he  was  seated  on 
a  rock,  fishing.  To  our  surprise  he  informed  us  that 
fish  were  quite  plentiful,  and,  though  full  of  bones, 
were  very  good  eating  ;  some  ran  to  twenty  pounds 
and  over.  I  mention  this  fact  for  the  reason  that  only 
in  two  or  three  of  the  river  villages  did  we  see  any 
evidence  that  the  natives  appreciated  the  fact  of  this 
easily  available  food  supply.  We  saw  fish  traps  along 
the  river;  and  at  some  of  the  rapids  they  caught  many 
about  the  size  of  whitebait,  but  we  witnessed  no 
attempt  to  spear  them,  or  to  use  large  nets  in  the  river. 

Mr.  Reid  had  had  the  good  fortune  while  out  in 
the  woods,  a  short  time  before  our  arrival,  to  shoot 
a  fine  male  okapi.  I  know  of  but  two  other  white 
men  who  can  truthfully  say  they  have  ever  had 
this  opportunity.  Mr.  Reid  had  shot  it  by  a  lucky 
accident.  It  was  in  very  thick  cover,  and  towards 
evening  he  fired  at  an  indistinct  object  that  he  took 
to  be  a  bufifalo,  but  walking  forward  to  see  the  result 
of  his  shot    found  a  magnificent    okapi    bull,  the    skin 


PORTERS  WAITING  TO  LEAVE  PENGHE 


PENGHE   TO   AVAKUBI  i8i 

and  skeleton  of  which  he  jiresented  to  Dr.  Christy, 
the  well-known  collector  tor  tlie  Belgian  Cjon  eiinncnt 
and  the   British   Mnsenni. 

There  was  hardly  a  mile  of  the  surrounchii^  coun- 
try into  which  Mr.  Reid  had  not  ventured,  aiul  liis 
knowledge  of  wild  animal  and  native  lite  is  c]uite 
wonderful.  Sliould  the  Hel.iiian  Congo  at  any  time 
change  hands,  from  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
geographical  formations  and  the  mineral  jiossiliilities 
Mr.    Reid   would   prove   a  very  important   man. 

On  the  journey  from  Kifiku  we  had  marked  one 
of  the  porters  who  was  carrying  a  heavy  load  ot  iK)ls 
and  pans  and  kitchen  paraphernalia,  as  a  man  to  jnit  a 
trust  in.  He  was  always  ready,  always  up  in  his  work, 
and  always  busy.  His  face  had  none  of  the  vacuous, 
animal-like  expression  of  the  average  Congo  hlack. 
Ernesti  informed  us  that  he  lived  in  Penghe,  and,  in 
his  way,   was  a  man  of  some  imi")ortance. 

On  the  route  he  had  dressed  no  differently  from 
the  other  porters;  in  fact,  he  was  hardly  dressed  at  all, 
w^earing  merely  the  usual  loin-cloth  ;  hut  we  had  ob- 
served that  the  other  men  had  treated  him  with 
marked  respect.  I  wish  that  I  could  recall  liis  name, 
for  it  w^as  through  him,  princii:)ally,  that  we  were  re- 
lieved from  the  disagreeable  situation  of  waiting  in- 
definitely,  when   every  day  counted. 

1  hardly  recognised  our  kitchen  retainer  when  he 
presented  himself  at  our  camp.  A  brilliant  red  cloth 
was  wound  about  his  head,  and  lie  wore  a  toga-like 
garment  of  kaniki  cloth,  the  fold  of  which    he   carried 


i82        THROUGH  CENTRAL  AFRICA 

in  tlie  hollow  of  his  arm.  His  first  question  showed 
that,  besides  his  ab.lity  and  a  certain  dignity,  he 
possessed  commercial  spirit.  How  much  would  we 
pay  per  head?  It  was  really  what  we  might  call  a 
"hold  up"  in  American  vernacular.  I  mentioned  a 
price;   he  mentioned   his;  we  split  the  difference. 

Sixty  porters  were  ready  the  next  morning,  and  our 
friend  presented  himself  as  head  man.  His  word  was 
law,  as  we  soon  discovered.  On  the  march  to  Avakubi 
he  was  general,  adjutant,  and  staff.  It  would  be  hard 
to  say  where  he  had  got  his  training,  but  if  we  could 
have  kept  him  with  us  thereafter  we  would  have  been 
saved  a  great  deal  of  trouble  and,  to  put  it  mildly, 
some  disturbance. 

On  the  very  first  camp  we  made  the  men  arrived 
on  time.  They  were  lined  up  with  their  loads,  and 
stood  in  almost  military  formation.  The  little  head 
man  looked  down  the  line  with  the  eye  of  an  inspecting 
general  officer  as  he  counted  the  boxes  and  bales. 
One  of  the  porters  who  disputed  for  an  instant  his 
authority  received  a  crack  on  the  head  that  sent  him 
reeling  into  the   bushes. 

The  chief  of  the  little  village  where  we  had  stopped 
produced  food  on  our  head  man's  orders  at  once  ; 
there  was  no  question  of  mataheesh.  The  next  morn- 
ing when  we  rose  shortly  after  daybreak  we  found 
that  the  porters  were  already  on  their  way.  The  head 
man  himself  brought  up  the  rear  guard,  and  no  one 
lagged  behind. 

Shortly  after  our  arrival  at  the  first  camp  the  chief 


'•Smyf. 


PENGHF    TO   AVAKUHI  183 

came  to  us  and  announced  that  there  was  a  \<iv^c  hipp.o 
in  the  river,  and  bej^^ed  us  to  shoot  it  for  h)()ii,  as 
none  of  the  viUages  liad  luid  any  meat  for  months.  I 
wished  most  heartily  that  we  had  dechned  to  jjjrant  liis 
request,  for  tliese  great  beasts  are  very  scarce  in  ilie 
Ituri  and  the  Iruwimi,  and,  after  all,  this  ixirlicular 
village  had  to  go  without  its  meat,  for  the  hijij-x)  sank 
and  drifted  down  the  stream.  How  we  found  the  hotly 
next  day  and  what  happened  makes  quite  a  story. 

We  had  proceeded  some  four  or  five  miles  on  the 
march  down  the  right  or  north  bank,  when  we  came 
to  a  straggling  collection  of  huts,  and  found  the  natives 
somewhat  excited.  Directly  across  the  river  was  another 
village,  and  we  soon  found  that  a  feud  existed  between 
tlie  two  chiefs  and  their  henchmen. 

Following  their  excited  gesticulations  and  pointing, 
we  saw  that  the  body  of  tfie  hippopotamus  had 
grounded  on  a  shallow^  near  the  opposite  hank.  Our 
own  head  man  now  begged  us  to  cross  over  and  secure 
some  meat  for  our  men. 

Getting  into  a  canoe  that  w^as  crowded  down  within 
two  or  three  inches  of  the  gunwale,  and  looked  danger- 
ously overloaded,  Kearton  and  I  were  ferried  across; 
two  otlier  canoes  accompanied  us.  As  the  south  bank 
villagers  saw  us  approaching  they  crow'ded  down  to  the 
water's  edge  with  angry  faces,  and  much  loud  expos- 
tulation. When  they  saw  that  there  were  two  white 
men  in  the   party  they  allowed   us  to   land. 

The  men  from  the  north  bank  si)rang  ashore  with 
their  knives  drawn.  It  looked  very  much  like  trouble. 
23 


i84         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

Such  jabbering  and  talking,  brandishing  of  fists  and 
weapons,  arose  that  1  feared  we  were  in  for  a  disagree- 
able row.  Our  head  man  took  me  by  the  arm,  and 
led  me  through  the  crowd  to  the  top  of  the  bank. 
He  spoke  a  few  words  to  the  two  chiefs,  who  looked 
as  if  they  were  about  to  grapple  each  other's  throats, 
and  pointing  to  Kearton  and  myself  he  waded  into  the 
jabbering,  shouting  crowd  with  his  stick,  striking  out 
to  right  and  left  indiscriminately.  An  ugly-looking 
brute  with  a  broad-bladed  panga,  or  short  sword,  made 
as  if  he  would  run  him  through.  The  head  man 
caught  him  by  the  wrist,  took  the  knife  from  him  and 
threw  it  up  the  bank. 

Walking  down  to  him  I  put  my  hand  on  his 
shoulder,  and  by  signs,  more  than  by  w^ords,  conveyed 
the  idea  that  the  hippo  meat  should  be  divided  be- 
tween the  two  villages ;  that  it  should  be  placed  on 
the  bank,  and  no  one  should  go  off  with  any  of  it. 
It  began  to  rain.  For  nearly  an  hour  we  stood  there 
while  the  shouting,  excited  crowd  worked,  almost 
waist  deep  in  the  water.  The  head  man  was  here, 
there,  and  everywhere,  his  stick  busy  if  he  saw  anyone 
trying  to  abscond  with  any  of  the  precious  fat  or 
hide. 

We  portioned  out  the  food  as  evenly  as  we  could, 
and  loading  up  the  canoes  went  back  to  the  north 
bank.  Here  the  head  man  repeated  the  tactics.  Our 
own  men  were  lined  up,  and  each  received  what 
would  appear  to  be  enough  food  for  a  European  for 
a  week.     One   porter    demurred   at   the    portion   given 


THE    HIPPO    THAT    NEARLY    CAUSED    A    KIOT 


CUTTING    UP    THE    HIPPO 


PENGHE   TO   AVAKUBI  185 

hifn.  ^^  itluMit  anv  i"»arlcvin,tjj  the  licad  man  took  away 
what   he    had   and    .ua\  c    it   to   the   others. 

He  picked  out  the  choice  hits  tor  us,  and  we  had 
liilij")o  souj")  and  steak  that  exeninu;.  It  is  reahy  not 
l^ad  w  hen  one  is  hungry,  tastin*j;  soinew  hat  hke  jiork  ; 
hut  it  is  tou^j^li,  and  reciuires  a  deal  ol  hoth  cooking 
and   cliewinu;. 

Our  hdiour  contractor  and  general  inanaL';er  luid 
turned  up  at  Pen<2;hie  witii  the  ri^ht  numher,  hut  some 
of  the  so-called  porters  would  not  have  come  uj:)  to 
military  sj^ecilication,  and  were  certainly  under  a^e. 
Among  them  were  two  hoys  who  were  fully  equal  to 
the  load  doled  out  to  them,  which  consisted  of  the 
butterfly  nets,  and  the  insect-collecting^  bottles  and  tins. 
One  little  fellow,  whose  name  as  near  as  I  could  jj^et 
it  was  Kwata,  had  the  most  dreadhd  scars  across  his 
head  and  face.  The  top  of  his  right  ear  was  gone 
entirel3^  and  both  the  cheek  bone  and  the  jaw  had  been 
fractured.  It  left  him  with  no  imjiediment  in  his 
speech,  and  he  was  both  garrulous  and  g(.o;l-natured. 
Probably  he  had  had  as  close  a  call  lor  his  lile  as  ever 
falls  to  the   lot  of  a  yoimgster  in  any  savage   commuinty. 

We  were  told  that  as  a  child  he  had  been  cajitured 
by  cannibals,  and  been  rescued  wh.en  on  the  point  ol 
being  served  up  as  an  especially  tender  tit-bit.  Through 
an  interpreter  who  could  speak  Swahili,  whom  we  met 
at  our  camp  on  the  Ituri,  hut  one  day's  march  hom 
Avakubi,  we  learned  his  story,  and  here  it  is  in  Kwata's 
own   words  somewhat  shortened. 

"  ]\Jy  father,  who   belongs  to  the  tribe  of    Moblatili, 


i86         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

lived  in  a  small  village  not  far  from  Mavvambi,  and 
when  I  was  a  little  toto,  so  high,  I  was  with  my  mother 
and  brother  getting  water,  when  we  were  found  by 
some  men  who  eat  men,  and  who  lived  in  the  forest, 
and  my  mother  they  killed,  and  my  brother,  who  was 
older  and  could  run  faster  than  I,  ran  into  the  village, 
and  they  took  me  with  them.  For  two  days  we 
travelled,  and  then  I,  too,  tried  to  run  away.  I  hid 
in  the  bushes,  and  when  at  last  they  found  me  they 
struck  me  on  the  head  until  I  was  dead.  Now  the 
men  thought  they  would  go  no  farther,  but  would  eat 
me,  so  they  built  a  fire  ;  but  my  brother  had  told  my 
father,  who  was  kapita  at  the  village,  and  he  had  gathered 
all  the  men,  and  they  followed,  and  they  came  up  to 
these  men  in  the  night  as  they  were  building  the  fire, 
and  my  father  himself  killed  four  with  his  spear,  and 
but  two  got  away,  and  they  brought  me  back  to  the 
village,  and  here  they  made  much  dowa,  and  the  old 
women  who  know  all  about  such  things,  and  the  man 
who  talks  with  the  spirits,  brought  me  back  to  life 
again.  So  there  was  war  between  all  our  villages  and 
the  people  who  lived  in  the  forest,  and  they  drove 
them  far  away  and  killed  many,  and  they  brought  back 
their  children  to  be  slaves  for  us." 

"And  did  your  people  eat  any  of  them?"  I  asked. 

Little  "Twenty-five  cents,"  as  we  had  nicknamed 
Kwata,  answered  shrewdly. 

"We  do  not  eat  men,"  he  responded.  "It  is  only 
wicked  people  who  do  that.  When  I  get  bigger  I  am 
going  to  be  a  soldier  and    fight  for  the  Bula  Matari." 


PENGHE   TO   AVAKUBI  187 

We  arrived  at  Avakuhi  in  the  afternoon  of  Wednes- 
day, the  4th  of  March,  and  our  caravan  entered  tlie 
main  square  of  this  once  important  post,  after  having 
travelled  for  nearly  a  mile  through  a  plantation  of  barren 
rubber  trees — a  plantation  that  must  have  cost  an 
immense  sum  of  money,  and  was  a  total  faihire  from 
the  standpoint  of  any  return. 

The  soil  of  the  Haut  Ituri  has  not  sufficient  nourish- 
ment, or  lacks  the  proper  chemical  ingredients,  to  make 
rubber-tree  planting  profitable.  The  stupendous  waste 
of  money  and  efifort  is  seen  in  the  immense  and  aban- 
doned plantations,  from  which,  so  far  as  we  could  as- 
certain, no  return  whatever  has  been  gathered. 

Three  or  four  years  ago  Avakubi  must  have 
been  a  flourishing  station,  but  now  the  carefully  laid 
out  walks  are  crumbling  away,  and  the  big  brick  offices 
and  officials'  dwellings  are  falling  into  ruin.  Only  a 
few  were  occupied.  Avakubi  has  at  present  no 
commercial  existence,  yet  during  the  days  of  the 
company  and  wild  rubber  prosperity,  ten — sometimes 
fourteen — canoes  a  week  left  here  for  Basoko.  There 
were  but  three  lonely  officials  and  a  half-dozen  native 
soldiers  left  to  represent  the  Government. 

The  chef  de  poste  was  very  hospitable,  and  so 
was  the  postmaster,  who  proved  to  be  a  German. 
The  former  was  the  father  of  a  very  pretty  little  half- 
caste  girl  a  year  or  so  old.  His  wife  was  a  very 
handsome  negress,  with  fine  eyes  and  teeth.  By  this 
time  we  had  grown  used  to  scarred  cheeks  and  fore- 
heads ;    they    did    not    render  the  features  so  repulsive 


i88         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

as  they  had  hefore  we  had  grown  accustomed  to 
them.  But  what  was  our  surprise  to  have  our  friend 
the  chef  de  poste  ask  Kearton  to  take  a  photograph 
of  his  dark-skinned  family,  as  he  wished  to  send  it 
home  to  his  parents  in  Belgium.  Miscegenation  is 
not  only  common,  but  seems  to  be  the  rule  with  the 
Belgian  ofBcials,  many  of  whom  send  their  chocolate- 
coloured  offspring  home  to  be  educated. 

To  our  delight  we  found  some  mails  here  that 
had  been  sent  in  ahead  of  us,  and  glad  indeed  were 
we  to  get  letters,  and  a  few  months-old  newspapers. 
A  further  surprise  awaited  us  here  also,  for  Kearton 
ran  across  a  countryman  of  his,  and  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  greeting  the  first  countryman  of  mine 
that  I  had  seen  since  leaving  Nairobi.  Both  were 
here  collecting  specimens  for  scientific  institutions, 
Dr.  Christy  representing  the  Congo  Museum  at  Brussels, 
and  Mr.  Chapin  he  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History  in  New  York. 

For  over  five  years  the  latter  had  lived  with  his 
chief,  a  German-American,  named  Lange,  in  the 
heart  of  the  African  forest.  They  had  collected  immense 
quantities  of  mate  ial  that  were  waiting  to  be  shipped 
dow  the  river  from  Stanleyville,  but  it  was  plain  to 
be  seen  that  only  pluck,  youth,  and  indomitable  will 
had  kept  our  young  friend  going.  Chapin  was  only 
twenty-four,  but  Africa  ages  men  prematurely,  and  he 
looked  much  older.  He  had  found,  however,  one  of 
the  secrets  of  living — or  better,  of  keeping  alive — that 
of  being  constantly  employed,  and  even  while   we  were 


PENGHE   TO   AVAKUBI  i8g 

there  he  was  sketching  specimens,  preparing  his  skins, 
packing,  and  repacking  liis  boxes.  Never  for  a  moment 
was  he  idle.  But  when  we  came  to  speak  of  home,  lie 
showed  how  he  hated  it  all  and  how  keen  he  was  to 
get  away.  I  am  glad  to  state  that  I  was  instrumental 
subsequently  in    having  sent    to  him  orders  of  recall. 

Even  the  chef  de  poste,  and  the  postmaster,  who 
admired  Mr.  Chapin  greatly,  urged  the  necessity  of 
his  leaving.  Five  years  and  seven  months  is  too  long 
for  a  white  man  to  remain  without  a  break  in  his  term 
of  service. 

Mr.  Lange  was  away  up  in  the  Lewelli  district,  so 
we  did  not  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  him,  but 
the  postmaster  summed  him  up  in  the  description 
applied  to  Bismarck:  "He  is  a  man  of  blood  and 
iron,  and  the  only  one  I  know  who  can  live  Hke 
a  native." 

I  find  this  entry  in  my  diary  on  the  third  day  of 
our  enforced  stay  at  Avakubi :  "  After  great  trouble, 
bought  some  chickens.  There  is  no  news  yet  of 
any  canoes.  Went  down  to  the  Mongwana  village 
and  looked  over  stores  at  the  Portuguese  trader's;  he 
has  some  rough  supplies.  At  present  rate  all  of  our 
tinned  stuff  will  be  gone.  The  porters  with  our  boxes 
have   not  arrived." 

The  chief  of  the  village,  who  lived  in  quite  a 
large  house,  was  no  other  than  the  redoubtable  Kil- 
longa-Llonga,  who,  in  1888,  had  given  Stanley  so  much 
trouble.  I  saw  him  stalking  down  the  street,  a  tall, 
gaunt,  and  rather  austere-looking  figure,  in  long  white, 


igo        THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

flowing  robes.  He  condescended  by  the  very  slightest 
nod  to  recognise  my  greeting. 

Should  the  natives  ever  rise  against  the  waning 
power  of  the  white  man,  this  old  Mohammedan  will 
have  to  be  reckoned  with. 

Disappointment  still  awaited  us ;  the  water  w^as 
low,  and  there  were  no  canoes  at  Avakubi  capable  of 
carrying  our  party.  Two  were  expected  to  arrive  be- 
low the  rapids  in  a  day  or  so.  We  determined  to 
secure  them  if  possible.  In  the  meantime  there  was 
nothing  to  do  but  possess  our  souls  in  patience,  for 
proceeding  by  foot  to  Bomili,  the  next  station,  was 
quite  impossible. 


^*^^ 


THE    DEPARTURE    FROM    AVAKUBI 


RIVER    SCKNK     HKIOW     AVAix 


CHAPTER  XVI 

D  O  W  N      T  H  ]■:      RIVER 

WE  hated  to  say  ^ood-hye  to  Cb.apln,  and  when 
we  parted  it  was  the  real  feehn^  of  regret  at 
leaving  him  after  his  long  experience  in  the  wilds  to 
continue  for  a  further  indefinite  period.  I  wish  we 
could  have  taken  him  with  us,  for  we  were  headed 
home  ! 

The  place  where  we  embarked,  below  the  Avakidii 
rapids,  was  a  stony  little  landing  at  the  foot  of  a  steep 
bank.  In  one  of  the  canoes  was  a  lot  of  ivory  con- 
signed to  a  trader  down  the  river,  and  when  all  of 
our  belongings  were  loaded  both  of  the  leaky  old 
craft  were  down   pretty  far  in  the  water. 

The  larger  canoe,  that  was  j)atched  up  with  cla}'', 
began  to  leak  almost  as  soon  as  we  had  shoved  oft" 
into  the  stream,  and  thereafter  it  required  constant 
bailing  to  keep  her  afloat.  Our  feet  were  in  the  water 
half  the  time. 

Stronge  had  been  left  behind  to  bring  on  the  rest 
of  our  supplies  as  soon  as  another  canoe  coukl  he 
procured.  The  canoe-men  showed  their  characteristics 
before  we  had  gone  a  mile.  The  current  was  lazy, 
and  so  were  they.  They  sat  on  the  gunwales  and 
talked.     1  wonder   what    the   average    Central   Africans 

24  igi 


192         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

find  to  chatter  about,  anyway  ?  But  they  seem  never 
to  be  at  a  loss  for  subjects  of  conversation. 

We  engaged  a  head  man,  a  kapita^  and  he  seemed 
to  be  the  worst  and  laziest  of  the  lot.  I  do  not  think 
that  during  the  first  morning  he  put  his  paddle  into 
the  water  a  dozen  times.  The  two  bowmen,  one  a 
boy  of  not  more  than  fifteen,  did  all  the  work — what 
there  was  of  it.  Occasionally  they  stamped  on  the 
broad  bow,  where  they  stood,  and  pointed  ahead  to 
some  shallows  that  were  to  be  avoided.  The  motive 
power  in  the  stern  would  respond  with  a  great  deal 
of  music  and  sing-song,  and  four  or  five  minutes  of 
paddling,  after  which  they  would  all  sit  down  and  rest 
again,  and  we  drifted  along  slowly ;  sometimes  crossing 
from  one  bank  to  the  other  as  the  currents  demanded. 

It  was  stiflingly  hot  under  the  canopy  of  phrynia 
leaves  that  was  our  only  shelter  from  the  sun.  Our 
own  personal  boys,  cook,  and  private  servants  were 
doing  most  of  the  bailing ;  and  was  easy  to  see  that  a 
bump  or  two  on  sharp  rocks  would  wreck  the  rotten 
hollowed  log,  and  that  we  could  never  make  the 
voyage  without  securing  another  craft  of  some  kind. 

The  trader's  stuff  was  in  the  smaller  canoe,  that 
constantly  lagged  behind.  At  the  rate  of  speed  at 
which  we  were  proceeding  we  should  never  catch 
that  steamer  at  Basoko.  In  fact,  it  would  take  us  a 
week  to  reach  Bomili,  that  we  should  have  made  in 
three  days  at  the  least.  There  was  no  use-  cajoling 
the  men,  there  was  no  use  swearing  at  them;  there  was 
nothing   to    do    but    drift ;    we    were    getting   our   first 


A    HALT    FOR    LUNCHEON 


CANOEMEN    CF    TIL~-    ARUWIMI 


HAULING    A    CANOE    AGAINST    THK    CURRENT 


SETTING    FISH    TRAPS 


DOWN   THE    RIVER  i93 

taste  of  it.  An  intense  clisliis.e  to  that  particularly 
useless  headman  rose  in  our  bosoms.  1  ici^ccl  for 
that  black  major-general,  who  had  brought  us  on  to 
Avakubi,  and,  who  having  discharged  his  duty,  dis- 
appeared without  coming  to  ask  for  the  usual  matahccsh. 
I  could  see  him  in  my  imagination  wading  into  those 
lazy  paddlers  with  that  useful  knobstick  of  his.  If 
he  had  stuck  by  us  we  should  have  left  him  a  rich 
man  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

We  should  have  arrived  at  Bassobangi  by  noon,  but 
owing  to  our  loitering  we  did  not  get  there  until 
about  four  o'clock.  Here  are  some  of  the  finest 
rapids  on  the  Ituri ;  a  regular  dam  of  red  sandstone 
goes  completely  across  the  river,  which  in  the  next 
two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  drops  nearly  thirty  feet. 
The  erosion  of  the  water  has  washed  this  barrier  into 
channels  and  gulleys,  and  worn  it  out  into  the 
most  fantastic  pots  and  hollows.  At  the  very  centre 
the  wide  river  is  pent  into  a  narrow  sluiceway, 
through  which  it  is  discharged  in  a  rushing  mass  of 
froth  and  foam. 

The  first  drop  is  fourteen  feet  in  one  great  crash 
of  water  that  opens  into  a  whirling  pool  below.  Here 
on  the  right  bank  lies  the  village,  with  about  two 
hundred  inhabitants,  whose  principal  occupation  is 
setting  small  fish  traps  in  the  little  natural  weirs  and 
runways,  and  they  are  as  good  river  watermen  as 
are  to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  world. 

We  had  to  land  a  half  mile  or  so  above  the  rapids, 
and  our  paddlers  at    first    demurred  at    having   to  help 


194         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

unload  the  canoe,  and  to  carry  any  of  the  loads.  As 
none  of  the  villagers  seemed  very  anxious  to  lend 
assistance  we  should  have  been  held  up  there  in- 
definitely if  it  had  not  been  for  the  women,  who 
at  last  we  succeeded  in  persuading  to  bear  a  hand. 
Having  started  a  few  on  with  the  bales  and  boxes 
we  found  ourselves  engaged  in  an  argument  with  the 
local  chief  as  to  the  price  of  piloting  the  canoes  down 
through  the  raging  waters,  upon  which  we  finally 
came  to  an  agreement. 

The  first  canoe  put  out  empty  into  the  stream  in 
charge  of  but  one  man,  a  short,  thick-set  fellow  with 
tlie  torso  of  a  Hercules.  He  wore  on  his  head  a  fan- 
tastic cap  of  plaited  straw,  with  a  cock's  feather  stick- 
ing up  in  the  middle  ;  it  was  quite  like  the  creation 
of  a  Paris  milliner,   and  perhaps  as  becoming. 

The  second  canoe  was  in  charge  of  three  men, 
one  in  the  bow  and  two  in  the  stern.  Kearton  and 
I  hurried  down  to  the  rocky  barrier  to  take  a  picture 
of  them  as  they  passed.  Although  we  had  asked 
them  to  wait  until  we  arrived  in  position,  they  did 
not  seem  to  understand,  and  it  was  only  by  running 
and  much  scrambling  that  we  got  there  in  time. 
The  sight  was  worth  seeing.  The  first  canoe  in 
charge  of  the  black  Samson  drifted  lazily  out  into  the 
current.  A  few  sweeps  of  the  short  paddle  and  he 
had  brought  the  bow  on  a  line  with  the  break  of  the 
falls,  where  the  water  at  first  slid  over,  turning  smoothly 
like  tha^  at  the  surface  of  a  huge  fly-wheel,  while 
below  it  dashed  high  into  spray  against  the  great  rock 


THl'.    CURIOUS    CROWD 


WOMEN    CARRYING    THE    LOADS 


SHOOTING    THE    RAPIDS    AT    BASSOBANGI 


A    RIVER    FAMILY    ON    THE    MOVE 


DOWiN   THE   RIVER  195 

that  apparently  stood  in  the  very  middle  of  the  channel. 
Farther  below  it  boiled,  danced  and  rose  in  successive 
waves  ami  <i;reat  biibhiiiitr.  'I'he  centre  of  the  crush 
of  water  was  two  to  three  feet  hiii^her  th  111  where  it 
slid  past  the  ed^es  of  the  rocky  sluiceway. 

The  single  paddler  was  riding  the  canoe  as  a  cir- 
cus man  rides  two  horses,  with  legs  outstretched,  his 
feet  resting  on  either  gunwale.  How  anyone  could 
maintain  his  balance,  or  even  keep  a  canoe  from  turn- 
ing over  in  that  smother  it  was  hard  to  see.  Now 
the  pilot  swept  the  paddle  through  the  water  gently, 
and  then  suddenly  he  began  to  work  with  all  his 
strength.  The  clumsy  old  log  swerved  and  took  the 
fall  at  its  centre  ;  it  extended  out  into  the  air  some 
eight  or  ten  feet  of  its  sixty  feet  of  length  before  it 
began  to  drop;  then,  with  a  rush,  down  it  came,  shoot- 
ing like  an  arrow,  missing  the  big  rock  in  the  centre 
by  not  more  than  a  foot.  So  great  was  the  speed 
that  it  required  a  quick  shutter  of  the  camera  to 
get  the  picture.  A  flfth  of  a  second  would  have  been 
too  slow  to  obtain  any  result. 

It  looked  as  if  the  whole  thing  would  go  under, 
and  at  one  time  the  pilot  appeared  to  be  standing 
knee  deep,  for  the  canoe  was  out  of  sight  in  the  spray 
and  hollows.  The  canoeman  gave  a  wild  scream,  as  if 
of  victory,  as  he  shot  out  into  the  cinrent  below  .  The 
fishermen  tending  the  little  nets  in  the  runways  hardly 
lifted  their  heads;  they  had  seen  the  thing  done 
many  times  before. 

The  second    canoe    almost    came    to    grief.     It  was 


196         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

the  older  and  larger  of  the  two,  and  was  badly  warped. 
We  could  see  the  bow  man  gesticulating  wildly,  and 
the  two  paddlers  in  the  stern  working  for  dear  life  to 
prevent  the  clumsy  craft  from  approaching  at  too  wide 
an  angle.  Down  she  came,  almost  on  to  the  rock 
where  the  water  boiled  and  bubbled,  and  how  close 
she  passed  by  it  we  could  hardly  say.  When  we 
joined  them  later  it  was  easy  to  see  that  the  strain  had 
opened  up  the  seams,  and  she  was  half    full  of  water. 

We  could  not  go  on  unless  we  got  another  craft. 
Here  was  a  kettle  of  fish  ! 

The  worst  feature  of  canoe  travel  on  the  Ituri 
and  Aruwimi  nowadays  is  that  paddlers  and  porters 
demand  their  pay  in  advance,  and  thus  there  is  but 
slight  hold  over  them.  Although  this  lot  had  con- 
tracted to  take  us  to  Bomili  they  would  have  run  if 
they  could  at  their  first  night's  stop.  They  stood 
chattering,  gathered  about  the  decrepit  canoe  on  the 
bank,  evidently  deciding  that  their  voyage  was  over. 
We  inveigled  them  up  to  the  big  hut  on  the  river 
bank  for  a  palaver,  during  which  we  managed  to 
secure  their  paddles  and  mounted  guard  over  them. 
It  took  fully  an  hour  to  persuade  the  local  chief  to 
part  with  the  largest  of  his  canoes,  in  fact,  we  had 
almost  to  buy  it  outright ;  they  are  shrewd  bargainers, 
these  river  natives.  His  apology  for  a  conscience 
must  have  pricked  him,  however,  for  after  having 
come  to  terms  he  presented  us  with  a  couple  of 
scrawny  fowls,  and  brought  us  some  fish  and  endes.s 
for  our  crew. 


DOWN   THE   RIVER  to; 

Gathering  the  men  to^ctlicr  just  after  daybreak 
the  next  morning  was  no  easy  task;  our  sjiirits  were 
sorely  tried.  The  canoe  was  shghtly  smaller  tlian  the 
one  that  we  had  abandoned,  and  when  everything  was 
on  board  she  was  well  down  in  the  water,  but  to  our 
delight  we  found  she  was  as  dry  as  a  bone.  We  gave 
each  man  his  ixiddle,  and  a  few  "kind"  words  of 
advice  when  they  took  their  places,  and  at  last  we 
were  out  in  the  stream  again. 

We  had  to  pass  some  very  rapid  water,  in  the 
course  of  which  we  struck  a  rock  and  almost  capsized, 
but  arrived  safely  at  Bafualipa  in  the  evening.  The 
women  from  the  village  carried  our  belongings  over 
the  portage. 

In  emerging  from  the  low  doorway  of  a  hut  in 
the  morning  I  had  cracked  my  head  so  severely 
(nothing  but  the  cork  helmet  saved  me,  the  top  being 
broken  in  by  the  force  of  the  impact)  that  1  have 
only  an  indistinct  recollection  of  that  day  and  the 
next,  but  from  Bafualipa,  making  one  or  two  landings 
to  avoid  the  rapids,  we  came  at  last  to  Boniili,  and 
here  we  met  Monsieur  Re  my,  a  very  able  Ch:J  de  Zone 
who  was  of  great  assistance  to  us. 

But  our  spirits  were  at  first  cast  dow  n  by  the  news 
and  the  advice  he  gave   us. 

If  Stronge,  who  was  following  with  another  canoe- 
load  of  our  impedimenta,  was  delayed  more  than  two 
or  three  days,  we  would  never  be  able  to  make  the 
steamer  connections  at  Basoko,  or  Barumba.  This 
meant  we  \n  ould  have  to  take  to  the  trail  again  overland 


igS         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

to  Stanleyville,  leaving  the  river  at  Banalia,  six  days 
sharp  paddling,  not  drifting,  down  stream.  The  new 
route  would  take  a  week's  extra  marching,  two  days' 
paddling  from  Bengamisa  to  the  landing-place,  and 
there  would,  of  course,  be  the  delay  of  getting  porters 
and  crews.  By  the  Ituri  and  Aruwimi,  if  all  went 
well,  we  had  fourteen  days  in  the  canoes.  It  all 
depended  upon  whether  Stronge  got  off  to  join  us 
\n  time.      Every   hour  counted. 

It  was  Thursday  the  12th  of  March  when  we 
reached  Bomili.  In  the  middle  of  the  night  we  were 
awakened  by  a  shot,  and  we  found  the  next  morning 
that  Remy  had  fired  at  an  elephant  that  had  wandered 
into  his  kitchen  garden.  He  had  taken  aim  at  the 
beast  through  the  window  of  his  room,  but  as  he 
had   only  wounded  it,   the   marauder  had   escaped. 

Friday  we  spent  in  getting  some  photographs  of 
birds  that  were  nesting  in  the  near  by  trees,  and  on 
Saturday  to  our  relief  Stronge  arrived.  He  had  had 
no  little  trouble  with  his  crew,  and  had  been  forced 
to  break  into  one  of  the  steel  boxes  with  a  chisel,  as 
he  possessed  no  key  for  it,  and  had  paid  the  rascals 
who  accompanied  him  double  the  price  they  had 
agreed  upon.  They  had  been  told,  we  subsequently 
found  out,  that  the  Chef  de  Zone  was  away  from 
Bomili. 

Remy  was  equal  to  the  situation  ;  the  thieving  kapita 
of  Stronge 's  canoe  received  twenty-five  lashes,  and 
his  men  were  forced  to  disgorge  their  plunder.  It 
was  one    of    the    most    satisfactory  proceedings    that    I 


TAKING    A    SUN    BATH 


MEN    AND    WORIFN    PORTERS    WAITING    FOR    THEIR    LOADS 

25 


WIFE    OF    THE    CHIEF    AT    MOKANGULA 


r 


UNCONSt  :. 


U.5 


BARTKRING     FOR     A    NATIVK    SWORD 


THE    VILLAGK    ILOUR    MILL 


DOWN   THE   RIVER  199 

have  ever  witnessed.  Tiie  kapita  was  held  in  the 
proper  position  by  some  of  his  own  men,  wlio  seemed 
to  enjoy  it  also.  The  kapita,  I  should  judj2:e,  was  not 
a  popular  person,  hut  he  took  it  all  as  a  matter  of 
course,  and  apparently  cherished  no  ill  feeling,  tor  he 
had  the  almost  superhuman  cheek  to  ask  for  nutld- 
bc'csh  afterwards. 

The  punishment  was  delivered  at  the  hands  of  the 
local  chief,  for  no  white  man  may  now  beat  a  nati\e 
without  rather  serious  consequences. 

Monsieur  Remy  promised  to  collect  picked  crews 
for  us,  and  to  all  appearances  they  were  a  much  better 
looking  lot  when  they  assembled  on  the  bank  early 
on  Sunday  morning. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE    TALKING     DRUMS 

WHEN  we  looked  over  our  paddling  crews  on 
leaving  Bomili,  as  they  shoved  off  into  mid- 
stream, we  congratidated  ourselves.  They  were  a 
sturdy-looking  lot,  and  although  some  of  them  were 
very  young,  hardly  more  than  boys,  their  muscles  stood 
out  like  those  of  gladiators.  Their  features  were  not 
marked  by  cicatrisation,  their  peculiar  tribal  marks 
being  a  series  of  raised  scars  which  extended  down 
the  chest  and  abdomen.  It  gave  them  the  appear- 
ance of  wearing  a  tight  uniform  coat  with  military 
frogs. 

They  started  off  with  a  great  swing,  and  a  cad- 
enced  paddling  song  that  must  have  taken  a  great 
deal  of  breath,  and  they  kept  at  it  steadily  until  we 
had  rounded  a  bend  in  the  river  ;  then  somebody 
must  have  opened  up  an  absorbing  subject — local 
politics,  I  dare  say — from  the  interest  they  took  in  it. 
They  stopped  paddling,  seated  themselves  on  the  sides 
of  the  canoe  and  all  spoke  together ;  they  talked 
singly  and  in  pairs  ;  every  now  and  then  they  seemed 
on  the  point  of  agreeing,  and  we  thought  they  might 
begin  work  again,  but  not  so !  The  kapita^  who  was 
dressed    in    the    fluttering    fragments    of    an    old    linen 


AS    IT    WAS    IN    THE    BEGINNING.     A    PRIMITIVE    RIVER    VILLAGE 


TliE    AhKICAN        WIRELESS  A    VILLAGE    STREET,    SHOWING     DRUMMER 


THE   TALKING    DRUMS  201 

shirt  and  a  very  well  ventilated  jiair  of  military 
trousers,  could  not  let  well  enough  alone.  He  would 
bring  up  the  whole  subject  with  a  few  short  burning 
words,  and  they  were  all  at  it  again.  Then  they 
would  wait  until  the  other  canoe  had  drifted  along- 
side, and  thus  everybody  got  an  opportunity  to  take  a 
hand  in  the   proceedings. 

Soon  we  sighted  a  village,  our  coming  being  an- 
nounced by  the  loud  booming  of  the  wooden  drum. 
The  paddlers  began  to  sing,  and  we  started  across  the 
river  toward  the  landing-place.  We  had  begun  to 
learn  a  lot  about  the  river,  and  one  of  the  first  im- 
portant things  that  was  forced  upon  us  was  that  despite 
the  orders  of  our  friend,  the  Chef  de  Zone^  we  were  not 
considered  of  much  importance.  The  whole  trip  was 
a  trading  expedition  conducted  by  the  kapita.  The 
dislike  that  we  entertained  for  this  individual  increased. 
We  had  noticed,  with  some  wonderment,  the  large 
amount  of  paddler's  personal  baggage  loaded  into  the 
last  canoe  under  the  kapita  s  direction.  There  were 
several  good-sized  bales  and  wicker  baskets  that  were 
brought  out  of  the  bushes  where  they  had  been 
hidden,  but  as  we  were  already  afloat  in  the  leading 
canoe  we  could  not  object  to  their  being  taken  along. 
When  we  reached  the  landing-place  we  could  see 
the  people  swarming  down  the  bank,  and  at  the  top 
of  the  deeply-worn  path  could  watch  the  energetic 
drummer  thumping  the  hollowed  log  with  his  great 
drumsticks  that  were  weighted  at  the  ends  witli  large 
balls  of  native  rubber. 


202         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

Suddenly  he  stopped  his  energetic  pounding  and 
stood  there  listening;  and  now  from  two  or  three 
miles  away,  down  stream  on  the  farther  bank,  another 
drum  began  pounding.  Each  drum  contains  two  notes 
that  are  made  by  striknig  the  opposite  sides  of  the  log. 
What  code  is  in  use  along  the  rivers  no  wiiite  man 
has  ever  been  able  to  discover,  but  that  there  is  some 
universal  system  of  tapping  out  these  wireless  messages 
is  an  undeniable  fact.  "  Pom-pom,  pom-pom,  pom- 
pom," went  the  far-away  drum,  and  then  there  came 
a  pause.  The  drummer  on  the  bank  above  our  heads 
began  to  answer,  and  getting  a  message  in  return  from 
the  other  operator  that  apparently  satisfied  him,  he  hit 
the  hollow  logs  a  couple  of  hard  strokes,  as  if  to  say, 
"  Message  received — O.K.,"  put  down  the  drumsticks, 
came  down  the  bank,  and  joined  the  crowd  around 
the  third  canoe.  The  kapita  was  giving  orders  like  a 
captain  of  police. 

Kearton  and   1  exchanged  glances. 

"What  is  that  black  rascal  up  to?"  the  Photo- 
grapher asked. 

The  question  answered  itself.  The  kapita,  with 
the  assistance  of  several  of  the  paddlers,  was  opening 
up  a  native  bazaar.  He  had  his  \Nares  spread  out  on 
the  ground,  and,  to  my  surprise,  I  saw  that  he  had 
a  very  good,  though  ^mall,  assortment  of  traders'  goods. 
He  paid  absolutely  no  at:ention  to  the  suggestion  we 
tried  to  convey  to  him,  that  time  was  valuable  and 
that  we  wished  to  press  ahead.  We  decided  to  give 
him  half  an  hour  and  then  start  something. 


THE   TALKING    DRUMS  203 

Business  did  not  ajipcar  to  he  very  brisk,  or 
perhaps  tliis  particular  kapita  had  a  bad  reputation. 
Customers  were  scarce.  Of  his  own  accord  he  beji^an 
to  load  up  his  things.  It  took  another  twenty  minutes 
to  gather  the  paddlers  who  had  dispersed,  and  we 
were  about  to  shove  olil:  again  when  a  large  canoe 
appeared  crossing  the  stream  diagonally  from  the 
farther  shore,  evidently  summoned  by  the  drum  tele- 
graph. Out  came  the  wares  again,  and  for  another 
half  an  hour  there  was  some  brisk  haggling.  A 
brilliant  idea  occurred  to  us.  It  was  to  buy  the 
kapita  s  whole  supply,  chuck  it  overboard,  give  it 
away,  burn  it  up.  If  there  had  been  any  way  to  get 
rid  of  him  at  the  same  time,  short  of  satisfying 
the  keen  desire  to  murder  that  w^as  rising  in 
our  hearts,  we  would  have  put  it  into  immediate 
practice. 

It  was  late  in  the  evening  when  we  arrived  at  the 
village  where  we  w^ere  to  put  up  for  the  night,  which 
I  believe  was  called  Peyari.  The  next  day  we  asserted 
ourselves  to  some  purpose,  for  we  sent  off  the  two 
canoes  ahead  of  the  big  one  and  detained  that  thrifty 
headman,  insisting  upon  his  going  in  the  canoe  in 
which  we  travelled.  Although  we  did  our  best  to  try 
to  leave  some  of  his  belongings  behind,  he  succeeded 
in  getting  most  of  them  on  board.  After  a  small  riot 
we  started. 

If  anyone  ever  worked  his  passage  down  an  African 
river,  the  Scribe  did  this  day,  for  having  secured  an 
extra    paddle,  he  worked    energetically  and  succeeded, 


204         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

almost  alone,  in  getting  tlie  canoe  past  one  or  two 
intended  stopping  places. 

Everywhere  the  news  ot  our  approach  was  heralded 
by  the  drums;  in  fact,  I  urn  sure  that  they  know 
three  or  four  days  ahead  along  the  river,  of  the 
approach  of  a  Biila  M atari,  or  an  ordinary  white  man. 

We  passed  the  populous  village  of  Bufuaiabo  and 
arrived  at  Panga  Falls,  a  spot  that  Stanley  mentioned 
as  one  of  the  most  difficult  places  past  which  he  had 
to  get  his  boats. 

In  the  old  days  of  the  company's  prosperity,  Panga 
had  been  an  important  post.  The  houses  were  well 
built,  and  there  were  signs  of  past  prosperity ;  but 
there  was  little  doing  here  now.  The  Chef  de  Poste, 
M.  de  Villegas,  was  very  good  to  us,  and  promised  us 
a  new  canoe  and  good  fresh  paddlers,  who,  I  believe, 
were  of  the  Bebengo  tribe.  The  kapita  had  the 
impudence  to  ask  for  mataheesh;  sufficeth  it,  he  did 
not  get  it. 

The  headman  that  we  took  on  here  was  something 
of  an  improvement,  and  for  the  first  time  during  the 
whole  trip  down  the  river,  we  reached  the  next  stage 
of  our  journey,  a  place  called  Bambamga,  on  time. 
We  passed  many  deserted  village  sites  and  skirted 
"Stanley's  Island,"  where  he  had  stopped  to.  recruit 
his  forces  and  waited  for  the  belated  rearguard  that 
never  reached  him.  So  far  we  had  been  favoured 
with  good  weather,  but  the  night  that  we  arrived  at 
Mupele,  where  there  was  a  very  good  rest-house  that 
had     been     built     for    an     official    of    the    old    Congo 


PANGA    1-ALLS    ON    THK    ARUVVIMl 


ON    STANLEY'S    ISLAND.     Ill, LOW     Till';     FALLS 


26 


AN     EVENING     SKY 


LIGHTNING    AT    MUPELK 


THE   TALKING    DRUMS  205 

Company,  we  got  a  taste  of  a  Central  .African  thiindcr- 
storiii.      Such    lightninj?  and    such  peals  of  thunder  wc 
had  never  seen  or  heard    before;    so  brilliant  were  the 
flashes  that  the  colours  of  everything  could   be  seen  dis- 
tinctly.    The  great  jagged  gashes  of  light   were  almost 
blinding.      Before  the  rain   came  on,  by  simj-jly  exjiosing 
the  camera,  we  got  some  remarkable  photographs  of  the 
electrical    display,  and  when  the  rain   did    come  it  was 
a   perfect    wall    of   water.     We    feared    for    the    canoes, 
that    had    simply     been    drawn    up    on    the     bank    and 
had    not    been     unloaded.     Our    photograi-)hic    material 
was  always  the  first  consideration,   and  it  was  owing  to 
Kearton's    care    and    the    completeness    of    our    prepar- 
ation, that    the    expedition  was    able  to   bring    through 
so  much  of  it  unharmed    l:)y  heat,   humidity,   or  water. 
The    strong    steel    water-tight     cases    were     lined     with 
felt,  and  outside  of  this  a  covering  of  heavy  blanketing 
and  a  strong  wooden  box.     Yet,  even  the  tests  that  we 
made    occasionally,   and    the  ordinary    photographs  that 
we  developed,  would  sometimes  frighten  us  by  showing 
signs  of  deterioration.     It  was  only  possible  to  do  this 
work    in    the    middle    of    the    night,   when    the   heat   of 
the  day  had    completely  gone   and    the  water  gathered 
from    the    river    had    cooled    sulhciently    not  to    alifect 
the     surface    of    the     film.       We    were     now    carrying 
some  eight    or    ten    thousand    feet  of  exposed   material 
that    it    was    impossible    to    develop    under    these    con- 
ditions.    There    was    always    the    haunting    fear   that    it 
would   spoil    on  our    hands,   but    owing   to    the    Photo- 
grapher's care,  out  of  the  whole  lot  the  dead  loss  was 


2o6         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

hardly    five     per     cent. — a     record     in     tropical     photo- 
graphical    work. 

Having  worried  so  about  the  canoes,  after  the 
storm  had  passed,  we  lit  the  lantern  and  went  down 
to  the  river  bank.  They  were  all  right,  but  from  the 
mere  rainfall  alone  each  was  as  full  of  water  as  a  trough 
at  a  pump ;  it  took  a  half-hour's  bailing  to  empty 
each  one,  for  these  heavy  logs  cannot  be  pulled  up 
on  the  bank  and  turned  over  on  their  sides,  after  the 
fashion  of  emptying  a  Canadian  skif¥  or  canoe. 

Once  in  walking  through  the  forest  we  came  upon 
an  old  canoe  almost  completely  finished  that,  like 
Robinson  Crusoe's  boat,  was  too  heavy  and  big  to 
be  moved  down  to  the  water.  Yet  the  speed  that 
fourteen  paddlers  can  get  into  one  of  these  clumsy 
crafts  is  surprising.  Under  constant  urging  and  favour- 
able conditions  they  have  made,  down  stream,  nearly 
fifty  miles  in  a  day.  Not  with  us,  however;  the  best 
record  that  we   could  claim  was  about  thirty. 

On  an  average  of  two  or  three  times  a  day  it  had 
been  necessary  to  abandon  the  canoes,  disembark  the 
loads  and  make  portages  of  varying  distances  from  a 
half  mile  to  two  or  three  miles,  where  we  would  find 
the  canoes  ahead  of  us.  The  river  was  very  low, 
although  we  noticed  an  increase  of  two  or  three  inches 
following  the  recent  heavy  rain.  In  every  case  where 
the  rapids  were  extremely  swift  or  dangerous,  our 
boatmen  abandoned  their  posts  to  local  pilots  and 
crews,  and  it  was  the  opportunity  to  secure  pictures  of 
their  marvellous  river   work.     Through    many  shallows 


THE   TALKING    DRUMS  207 

of  less  dangerous  quality  and  through  many  swift 
passages  of  the  river  we  passed  fully  loaded,  hut  never 
would  the  natives  allow  a  white  man  to  aeeompany 
them  where  any  real  danger  was  to  he  aiipreheiided. 
Why  this  was  the  case,  1  do  not  know;  it  inav  have 
been  mere  superstition -that  it  was  unlucky  to  have  a 
musungo  on  board,  or  due  to  the  more  practical  reason 
that  they  wished  to  have  as  light  a  draught  as  possible  to 
handle,   but  they  ahvays  insisted  on  our  getting  out. 

Near  Bumbua  we  had  ordered  the  canoes  to  hold 
back  until  we  got  ahead  of  them  to  a  good  position 
from  which  to  watch  their  descent  of  a  series  of  chutes 
and  slight  falls  that  swept  the  full  breadth  of  the  river 
for  a  distance  of  over  a  mile.  AVe  reached  there  in 
plenty  of  time  and  by  careful  wading  from  rock  to 
rock,  \ve  found  ourselves  on  a  submerged  ledge  almost 
in  mid  stream.  We  could  progress  no  farther,  for 
beyond  us  a  raging  current  tore  through  the  rugged, 
broken  sandstone,  and  a  short  distance  below  made  a 
sheer  fall  of  some  six  or  eight  feet  into  a  boiling 
swirling  pool.  Everywhere  the  sharp  edges  of  the 
rocks  showed  above  the  surface,  while  but  a  few  inches 
below  there  lurked  dangerous  little  reefs  that  would 
take  the  bottom  out  of  anything  but  the  hollow-logged 
pirogues,  built  to  stand  a  tremendous  thumping. 

We  had  got  the  cameras  in  position  as  the  first 
canoe  appeared  at  the  top  of  the  rough  water,  and  for 
the  life  of  us  we  could  not  determine  which  channel 
would  be  chosen  or  where  a  passage  could  safely  be 
negotiated.     On  they  came,   paddling  diagonally  acros> 


2o8         THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

the  stream,  the  pilot's  crew  working  fiercely,  their 
bodies  swaying  from  their  hips,  backwards  and  for- 
wards, putting  in  every  ounce  of  their  weight  and 
strength,  then  suddenly  they  turned  sharply  to  the 
right,  the  four  men  in  the  bow  using  their  big  punt- 
ing poles  ;  missing  the  entrance  to  the  chute  where 
the  water  ran  the  swiftest,  they  took  a  narrow  little 
passageway  and,  with  much  fending  off  and  bumping, 
slid  along  to  the  edge  of  the  little  fall  and  plunged 
down  into  the  pool  below.  As  they  passed  us  the 
noise  of  their  excited  voices  could  be  heard  above  the 
waters.  The  second  canoe  that  was  following  quite 
fast  behind  the  first  one,  made  even  a  better  passage, 
but  the  third — the  new  one  procured  at  Panga — was 
not  so  fortunate.  Half  way  down,  one  of  the  strong 
punting  poles  broke ;  the  bow  swung  to  the  left  and 
in  an  instant  she  had  run  on  to  a  flat  submerged  rock 
going  half  of  her  length  clear  of  the  water.  Although 
the  accident  might  have  been  a  dangerous  one  it  had 
a  most  funny  side.  There  had  been  seven  or  eight 
men  in  that  canoe  when  she  struck ;  so  great  was  the 
impetus  that  one  after  another,  much  as  a  "caterpillar" 
of  children's  blocks  falls  at  a  push,  they  went  over 
the  bow  into  the  water.  All  managed  to  scramble 
back  but  one  man,  who  made  a  personally  conducted 
trip  of  it  over  the  falls  and  was  rescued  by  the  canoe 
ahead. 

Often  along  the  rivers  we  passed  the  wrecks  of 
canoes,  large  and  small,  piled  up  high  and  dry  at  the 
dangerous  places.     In  the  days  of  the  heavy  river  traffic, 


THE    GOATS'     HIGHWAY    INTO    THE    FOREST 


THE   TALKING    DRUMS  2oq 

it  must  have  been  a  very  ordinary  occurrence,  hut  for 
us  to  lose  a  canoe  at  this  juncture  wonhl  have  been 
very  seriou-i  for  the  expedition,  and  that  hoMow  h)^ 
now  swaying  and  balancing  on  its  centre  of  ^ra\itv 
was  our  best  and  biggest  craft.  The  \u:u  who  had 
managed  to  reach  hrm  footing  l^egan  to  woik  theii 
way  back  to  where  slie  lay;  some  of  them  had  a'l 
this  time  retained  hold  of  their  jioles  or  paddles, 
and  now  followed  a  bit  of  head  work  that  made  us 
metaphorically  and  actually  take  otT  our  hats.  Making 
use  of  the  help  of  the  current,  they  swinig  the  canoe 
around  as  if  on  a  pivot,  gave  her  a  push,  jumped  in, 
and   made  the  rest  oi   the  descent  stern  foremost. 

We  had  begun  to  notice  the  numbers  of  deserted 
villages  and,  in  those  that  were  inhabited,  the  prej^on- 
derance  of  untenanted  huts.  Smallpox  had  been  rife, 
but  we  w^ere  now  about  to  enter  the  region  that 
possesses  and  offers  the  great  c]uestion  of  Central 
Africa — the  disease  area  of  the  so-called  "  sleeping 
sickness."  It  was  at  Banalia  that  we  first  saw^  signs 
of  its  presence  and  the  attempt  to  combat  its  spread- 
ing, for  here  w^as  stationed  the  first  doctor  that  we 
had  met  since  leaving  the  British  outpost  in  Uganda, 
and  it  was  he  who  told  us  of  the  insidious  creeping 
of  the  disease  up  the  Aruwimi,  for  thj  Tturi  River 
had  for  some  distance  past  changed  its  nam^  and 
added  another  syllable. 

Banaha !  What  a  flood  of  mental  pictures  came 
to  my  mind  as  1  recalled  those  exciting  chapters  in 
the   great    explorer's   book.     It    was   here   that    the    ill- 


210         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

fated  leader  of  the  rear  column,  Major  Barttelot,  met 
his  death  at  the  hands  of  a  treacherous  native. 
And  it  was  to  this  spot  that  Stanley  alone  brought 
back  his  searching  party  on  its  three  months'  return 
trip  from  the  forest  edge.  Here  perhaps,  under  the 
shade  of  that  very  tree  near  the  shore,  sat  poor 
"Bonny,"  on  whom  had  devolved  the  command  of  the 
dwindUng  rearguard.  Like  one  or  two  other  places 
we  had  passed,  Banalia  could  once  have  laid  claim 
to  importance  ;  in  fact,  it  had  been  built  with  the 
lavish  belief  in  its  future — a  belief  that  will  never  be 
realised.  And  in  the  short  life  of  man's  handiwork 
on  this  devouring  continent,  it  may  gradually  disappear. 
Above  the  post  there  is  a  large  native  village,  and 
strolling  up  there  in  search  of  material  the  Scribe 
and  the  Photographer  were  rewarded.  The  chief  of 
the  village  was  old  Lupo,  whom  Stanley  mentions, 
and  who  was  his  guide  up  the  river.  He  was  a  tall 
old  man ;  his  face  deeply  pitted  with  smallpox,  he 
had,  nevertheless,  a  remarkable  dignity.  But  he  was 
slowly  going  blind,  and  on  this  very  day  was  turning 
over  the  chieftainship  of  the  village  to  a  younger 
and  more  active  man.  The  sub-chiefs  and  headmen 
were  all  assembled,  and  we  took  photographs  of  part 
of  the  ceremony.  The  Banalia  tribe  are  experts  in 
ironwork,  and  here  we  saw  a  smith  at  work  making 
spearheads,  and  knives,  and  swords.  But  the  most 
interesting  sight  was  the  welding  of  the  massive 
iron  armlets  on  the  wrists  and  forearm  of  the  new 
chief.     Unconscious  that   this    act  was  being  recorded 


NKAR     YAMBUYA     WHERE    STANLEY'S    Rl-.AKGUAKD    ALMOST     STARVED 


OLD    LUPO.    STANLKYS    GUIDE     ON     THK    AKUWIMl 


27 


THE   TALKING   DRUMS  211 

by  the  moving  picture  (ilin,  neither  he  nor  the  man 
who  was  so  deftly  wrapping  the  metal  binding  over 
the  bare  fiesh  paid  the  slightest  attention  to  us.  In 
the  photograph  one  may  notice  the  folding  camp-chairs 
of  European  and  very  modern  appearance  on  which 
the  two  men  are  seated  ;  these  are  to  be  fountl 
throughout  all  of  the  river  region  and  are  of  native 
workmanship.  All  are  replicas,  1  was  told,  of  a  half- 
dozen  chairs  that  were  brought  in  by  a  Portuguese 
trader  some  ten  or  twelve  years  previously.  Now,  no 
African  of  importance  ever  travels  without  one.  Every 
chief  has  his  chair  boy,  and  even  the  kapita  who  was 
to  take  us  on  from  Banalia  brought  his  with  him. 

It  was  at  Banalia  that  we  had  to  make  a  very  im- 
portant decision.  The  time  was  pressing  and  none  of 
us  was  in  the  best  of  health.  I  remember  waking 
one  night  after  a  very  dreadful  dream — it  was  that  we 
had  missed  that  monthly  down -stream  steamer  and 
were  consigned  to  another  long  wait  and  the  further 
possibility  of  not  making  connection  with  a  vessel 
bound  for  Europe,  at  the  coast.  I  awoke  to  the 
realisation  that  this  was  not  only  a  dream  but  an 
actual  possibility.  We  were  advised  at  Banalia  to 
consider  making  the  long  walk  overland  to  Bengamisa 
and  Kaparata,  and  thence  by  canoe  to  Stanleyville,  the 
head  of  direct  steamer  navigation  from  Kinshassa 
near  the  Congo  mouth.  It  was  a  toss  up  whether  we 
could,  everything  working  in  our  favour,  recruit 
enough  porters  and  get  there  before  the  steamer  sailed, 
or    by    hard    work    and    long    hours  of    paddling  reach 


212         THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

Basoko  in  time  to  head  the  same  steamer  off  on  its 
down  trip.  A  little  vessel  that  used  to  ply  between 
the  last-named  place  and  Yambuya,  on  the  Aruwimi, 
some  three  or  four  days  below  us,  had  long  since 
been  discontinued.  We  decided  to  trust  ourselves  to 
the  paddlers  again.  By  this  time  we  could  handle 
them  b«:rtter,   and  so  once  more  we  took  to  the  river. 

It  seems,  as  I  look  back,  that  I  have  made  a 
rather  bitter  arraignment  of  the  various  tribesmen 
who  served  us  in  any  capacity  along  the  rivers,  and 
in  a  measure  I  should  like  to  have  qualified  the 
impression  that  it  must  have  left.  We  were  not  with 
any  of  them  long  enough  to  get  to  know  them,  and 
the  black  takes  some  knowing.  For  generations  and 
generations  they  had  lived  a  constant  life  of  suspicion 
— suspicion  of  their  neighbours — suspicion  of  strangers 
— and  the  oppression  and  terrorism  of  the  slave- 
raiders  who  had  only  a  decade  or  so  before  ceased 
their  man-stealing  and  rapine  through  this  very 
country.  Then  had  come  the  rule  of  the  rubbei 
industry,  with  all  its  exactions  of  forced  labour  and 
tribute  ;  and  following  this,  with  great  suddenness,  a 
total  abandonment  of  all  traffic  and  the  crumbling 
and  practical  decay  of  the  most  exacting  monopoly  in 
the  world,  and  the  loss  of  all  white  authority. 

The  Congo  Beige,  at  this  present  time,  is  going 
through  an  interregn  \m  of  disorder  ;  it  has  ceased  to 
pay.  The  new  mining  and  commercial  enterprises 
that  are  now  merely  in  an  experimental  state,  if 
worked    to  a  successful    conclusion,   may  help  to  lift  it 


THE   TALKING    DRUMS  213 

out  of  this  period  of  chaos;  at  prcscni  it  is  a  coiiiin- 
driim  to  which  no  one  has  found  an  answer.  1  he 
sohing  is  coniphcated  by  many  side  issues,  hut  the 
principal  thin^  to  which  study  and  tliouj^jht  nuist  he 
devoted,  and  to  which  liv^es  must  be  sacrificed,  is  the 
combating  of  the  devastating  disease  that  has  swept 
away  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  inhabitants  in  the  last 
ten  years.  In  spots  the  virulence  of  sleejMug  sickness 
is  almost  unbelievable ;  on  the  best  of  authority  we 
were  informed  that  in  one  small  section  of  five  or  six 
thousand  square  miles,  out  of  twenty-live  thousand 
inhabitants  who  had  lived  there  eight  years  ago,  it 
was  estimated  that  there  w^ere  but  five  hundred  now 
alive. 

But  to  return  to  our  story:  There  was  no  white 
man  at  Yambuya,  only  a  negro  clerk ;  but  he  w  as 
possessed  with  a  sense  of  his  importance,  and  he  ruled 
the  cnce  populous  station  with  an  iron  hand.  We 
had  noticed  some  fowls  in  the  little  village  above  the 
fa'ls  w^here  we  had  landed,  but  the  natives  had  refused 
to  sell  any.  Mentioning  this  fact  to  the  black  major- 
domo,  he  departed  immediately,  and  came  hack  with 
not  only  the  two  we  had  requeited,  but  an  additional 
two.  Whether  or  no  he  ever  divided  the  matabeesh 
that  we  gave  him;  I  cannot  say,  hut  it  is  very 
doubtful. 

Yambuya  was  a  sad  place  ;  the  last  white  man 
who  had  lived  there  had  died  of  fever  but  a  few 
weeks  previously.  His  effects  occujiied  the  corners 
of  the  room  of    the    only    habitable    house.     This    was 


214        THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

"Starvation  Camp"  of  Stanley's  ill-fated  rearguard. 
It  was  here  that  they  had  died  like  flies,  and  had 
suffered  untold  misery  waiting  for  the  porters  that 
had  been  promised  them  by  that  wily  old  rascal 
Tippu  Tib — the  porters  who  never   came. 

We  were  counting  practically  the  hours  now,  for 
the  delay  of  half  a  day  in  the  necessary  schedule 
meant  missing  the  ".teamer.  By  dint  of  great  exertions 
we  got  ofif  promptly  at  daylight  and  reached  Lakini, 
having  done  between  thirty-five  and  forty  miles — the 
best  work  of  the  trip. 

There  were  no  more  rapids  now.  The  character 
of  the  huts  of  the  river  villages  had  changed  from  the 
pointed,  narrow  dwellings  made  of  phrynia  leaves  to 
wattled  dwellings  plastered  with  mud.  At  Lakini  we 
were  given  a  very  neat  and  new  dwelling  for  our 
resting-place — a  house  that  had  been  built  for  the 
chief's  two  youngest  and,  evidently,  most  popular 
wives,  who,  with  their  infants,  turned  out  and  gave  us 
place.  I  remember  this  night  well,  for  both  Kearton 
and  myself  were  very  much  under  the  weather. 
The  fever  had  gripped  me  especially  hard,  and  with 
it  had  come  a  raging,  thumping  headache.  But  no 
sooner  had  I  turned  in,  hoping  to  sleep,  after  a  large 
dose  of  quinine,  than  the  village  drummer  began 
sending  out  the  local  news  to  anybody  within  hearing 
of  his  booming  log,  not  ten  feet  from  our  doorway. 
At  last  I  could  stand  it  no  longer,  and  sent  for  the 
one  who  was  summoned  whenever  we  were  in  trouble 
— Ernesti.      At    the    moment    when    he    arrived    the 


WATCHING     THl',    CANOKS    COMK     IN 


STARVATION    CAMP 


A     BAMBOO     PIPE 


THE   TALKING    DRUMS  215 

drummer  had  ceased  his  disturhaiice,  hut  1  could  liear 
the  distant  notes  from  up  and  down  tlie  river  as  the 
villages  talked  hack  and  forth. 

Having  received  instructions  to  do  what  he  could 
to  prevent  our  local  performer  from  again  joining  \n 
the  discussion,  Ernesti  departed.  He  was  successful, 
as  usual,  for  the  hig  drum  made  no  further  row  that 
night ;  hut  the  next  morning,  as  we  were  about  to  get 
into  the  canoes  and  depart,  there  was  trouble.  The 
chief,  with  several  of  fiis  counsellors  and  a  crowd  of 
women  and  children,  were  gathered  at  the  water's 
edge.  They  seemed  quite  angry — some  one  had 
stolen  the  town  drumsticks ;  it  was  like  taking  the 
clapper  out  of  their  one  and  only  bell.  My  conver- 
sation with  Ernesti  had  entirely  slipped  my  mind ;  it 
never  occurred  to  me  to  suspect  him,  and,  under 
directions,  the  sleeping  mats  and  personal  baggage  of 
our  escort  and  the  paddlers  were  thoroughly  searched, 
without  result.  With  a  satisfied  conscience  we  were 
about  to  shove  ofif  when  somebody  pointed.  There, 
sticking  out  of  my  own  blanket  roll  that  had  already 
been  put  into  the  canoe,  were  the  handles  of  the 
missing  drumsticks.  Much  chagrined  I  handed  them 
over  with  an  extra  gift  for  the  drummer,  who,  I  must 
confess,  took  it  with  small  grace  and  a  snort  of 
derision.  I  said  nothing  to  Ernesti  until  we  were 
well  out  into  the  stream,  then  I  asked  him  quietly 
why  he  had  done  it. 

"The   b'wana  asked  me  to,"   he   replied. 

I  faintly  remember  now  telling    him    to    get    those 


2i6        THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

drumsticks,  to  smash  the  drum  up  with  an  axe,  kill 
the  drummer,  to  commit  any  crime  he  pleased,  but  to 
*'stop  that  noise."  So  much  for  faithful  performance 
of  orders! 

Oh,  that  last  day  on  the  river!  th  it  last  night, 
rather!  Never  will  we  forget  it.  At  five  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  the  paddlers  wished  to  put  into  a 
village  for  the  night.  At  seven  o'clock,  when  darkness 
was  descending,  they  wished  to  put  into  another.  By 
dint  of  threats  and  urging,  and  a  little  physical  violence, 
we  succeeded  in  getting  them  by.  An  hour  later 
they  were  in  a  mutinous  state  and  would  have  jumped 
overboard  but  for  the  darkness  and  the  uncertainty  of 
knowing  where  they  could  land.  At  ten  o'clock  in 
the  evening  they  were  still  wearily  and  fitfully  pad- 
dling, and  at  eleven  a  faint  moon  had  broken  through 
the  clouds  and  we  could  see  the  outline  of  the  tree- 
tops  on  the  shore — a  blacker  mass  rising  above  the 
water.  In  half  an  hour  we  sighted  a  faint  light.  One 
of  the  paddlers  pointed  and  in  a  wearied  voice  said, 
*'Basoko."  We  had  reached  the  Congo  waters  at  last; 
at  least  we  were  in  striking  distance  of  the  great  river. 

We  had  had  nothing  to  eat  since  noon  ;  the  pad- 
dlers had  had  nothing  at  all,  all  day.  In  the  dim  light 
we  crept  up  to  the  landing  beach.  There  was  a  fleet 
of  canoes  hauled  up  there,  and  close  to  the  place 
where  we  got  out,  stiff  and  tired,  was  a  large  sheet- 
iron  whale  boat.  We  could  just  make  out  a  great 
gateway,  guarded  on  each  side  by  loop-holed  tovrers ; 
for    this    was    Stanley's    military    base    when    he    was 


FULL    SPEED    AHEAD 


PLACID    Ri:i- LIXTIONS 


THE    FORTIFIED    POST    OF     BASOKO 


AT     EASOKO    GATE;     THE     END    OF     THE    CANOi'.    JOURNEY 


THE   TALKING   DRUMS  217 

governor  of  Equatoria,  and  liad  been  built  to  stand 
a  siege.  AVe  broke  open  some  tinned  meat  and 
biscuits,  and  having  satisfied  our  luinger,  we  went 
through  the  gate  into  the  old  fort.  Not  a  living 
being  could  we  see  until  at  last  we  came  across  a 
sleepy  native  soldier,  who,  half  frightened  at  the  sight 
of  strange  white  men  at  that  time  of  the  night,  kept 
standing  at  salute  while  he  answered  our  questions  in 
an  unintelligible  jargon.  We  gave  him  up  at  last,  and 
returned  to  the  beach,  where  our  boys  had  lit  a  fire, 
and  we  had  been  there  hardly  five  minutes  when  we 
saw  a  lantern  approaching.  There  were  two  figures 
coming  through  the  gateway,  and  to  our  relief  we 
found  one  was  a  white  man.  He  was  a  pale-faced, 
anaemic  person,  literally  eaten  up  with  the  ravages  of 
fever,  but  he  was  kindness  and  hospitality  itself.  He 
took  us  into  his  house  and  emphasised  his  hospitality 
by  leaving  us  alone  to  try  to  get  our  much-needed 
rest,  departing  to  his  own  couch  to  shake  himself  to 
pieces  for  the  rest  of  the  night. 

He  told  us  that  the  negroes  had  informed  him  by 
the  drums  that  some  white  men  were  coming  down 
the  river,  but  he  had  not  expected  us  so  soon.  There 
was  one  bit  of  news  that  he  gave  us,  however,  that 
was  consoling,  the  steamer  would  not  arrive  at 
Barunda,  the  stopping  place,  for  another  day.  So 
long  as  we  had  arrived  in  time  we  did  not  care 
whether  or  no  it  delayed  a  week. 


28 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE     CONGO    AT    LAST 

BASOKO  was  a  live  place  compared  with  the  other 
posts  that  we  had  seen ;  it  was  linked  to  civili- 
sation by  a  tall  wireless  telegraph  pole,  and  was  in 
charge  of  the  able  executive  in  the  person  of  M.  Enge, 
the  commissioner  of  the  district.  We  called  the 
next  morning  at  his  office,  and  he  kindly  invited  us 
to  dine  with  him  that  night.  This  post,  the  most 
important  on  the  Upper  Congo,  next  to  Stanleyville, 
was  a  revelation  to  us  ;  here  were  government  build- 
ings in  good  repair;  traders'  stores;  well-kept  walks 
and  even  ffower  gardens.  It  seemed  to  us  like  a 
populous  metropolis.  There  were  perhaps  in  all, 
some  twelve  white  men  and  a  force  of  eighty  native 
soldiers.  A  few  weeks  before  there  had  been  a  white 
woman  there  also,  the  wife  of  the  district  com- 
missioner, but  she  had  died,  and,  as  we  discovered, 
had  left  him  a  lonely  and  broken-hearted  man,  whose 
only  relief  was  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duty. 
It  was  with  a  curious  feeling  that  we  sat  down  at  a 
table  with  white  linen  and  napkins  and  silver  ware,  cut 
glass  and  beautiful  china :  everywhere  were  the  signs 
of  a  feminine  presence.  There  was  a  touch  of  home 
in  it  all,   for  the   late   mistress  of  the   house   had   been 

an  American.      I    noticed    on    the    walls    of    the    big 

218 


THE   CONGO   AT   LAST  219 

sitting-room  the  college  pennants  of  Yale  and  Har- 
vard and  Cornell.  The  books  and  knick-knacks 
brought  back  a  feeling  of  homesickness.  On  a  table, 
littered  with  dainty,  feminine  belongings,  was  a  photo- 
graph in  a  silver  frame.  The  commissitHier  caught 
my  glance  in   its  direction. 

"My  wife,"  he  said;  "she  lived  here.  She  would 
not  go  fiome." 

Yes,  and  she  was  Hving  there  yet;  her  presence  was 
all  around  us  as  the  big-hearted,  sorrowful-faced  man 
spoke.  It  was  she  who  was  responsible  for  the  well- 
trained  servants,  and  the  neatness  and  care  which 
showed  everywhere.  I  glanced  again  at  the  picture  ; 
it  was  the  face  of  one  that  men  and  women  and 
children  would  have  loved.  But  Central  Africa  is  no 
place  for  a  woman. 

The  Photographer,  who  was  very  sick  this  evening, 
had  gone  back  early  to  the  house  by  the  river,  but 
not  to  get  the  much-needed  rest,  as  it  subsequently 
turned  out.  About  eleven  o'clock,  when  I  came  in, 
he  was  found  sitting  on  the  edge  of  his  cot  patching 
up  bruises  and  cuts  on  various  portions  of  his  anatomy; 
he  was  in  anything  but  an  agreeable  frame  of  mind. 
Ernesti,  looking  also  the  worse  for  wear,  was  unrolling 
some  bandages  from  the  medicine  chest.  The  place 
smelled  like  the  ward  of  a  hospital,  it  reeked  with  the 
odour  of  iodoform.  The  reason  for  all  this  was  soon 
learned ;  it  all  came  through  the  Photographer's  keen 
desire  to  carry  out  the  spirit  of  one  of  the  Beatitudes: 
"Blessed  are  the  peacemakers,"  etc. 


220         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

The  cook  who  had  accompanied  us  on  our  river  trij) 
was  a  bit  of  a  Lothario,  after  the  African  fashion,  and 
had  tried  fiis  wiles  and  fascinations  on  the  wife  of 
our  host's  private  servant,  with  such  ardour  that  he 
had  succeeded  in  arousing  a  keen  feeHng  of  jealousy, 
and  a  desire  to  slay,  in  the  bosom  of  her  lord  and 
master.  Kearton,  who  had  just  crawled  into  his 
blankets,  was  awakened  by  the  noise  and  excitement 
and  shouts  of  murder.  Never  again  will  he  try  to  stop 
negroes  from  fighting  in  the  dark;  after  all  his  experi- 
ences he  should  have  known  better,  anyhow.  Running 
out  of  the  house  barefooted,  he  found  himself  in  the 
thick  of  it,  and  in  about  half  a  minute  had  accumu- 
lated from  unknown  sources  an  assortment  of  cuts  and 
bruises  that,  luckily,  were  not  of  a  serious  character. 
Ernesti  had  left  the  house  with  him  to  aid  in  the 
suppression  of  the  tumult.  In  the  darkness  and  confu' 
sion  Kearton  had  caught  somebody  by  the  throat,  and 
was  using  his  peace  persuader  to  some  advantage 
when  he  suddenly  discovered  that  the  one  whom  he 
had  singled  out  as  a  special  subject  for  education 
was  no  other  than  the  luckless  Ernesti.  As  Kearton 
was  telling  us  the  story  Ernesti  kept  up  one  remark: 
"The  b'wana,  he  knock  me  down,  he  pick  me  up;  he 
pick  me  up,  he  knock  me  down  ;  he  nearly  knock  my 
head  ofif.  I  got  no  chance  to  try  to  stop  fight  at  all." 
It  was  rather  fortunate  that  this  mistake  had  occurred, 
for  the  other  combatants,  who  were  now  behind 
the  bars  of  the  "choky,"  were  suffering  from  knife 
cuts. 


THE   CONGO   AT   LAST  221 

Hardly  had  we  blown  out  the  candle  and  settled 
down  when  we  were  roused  by  a  message  troin  the 
commissioner.  The  steamer  from  Stanleyville  would 
reach  Barumba  at  about  daylight  instead  of  noon  ;  it 
had  tied  up  for  the  night  but  a  short  distance  above 
the  point  where  the  Aruwimi  flowed  into  the  greater 
river.  Arrangements  had  been  made  for  a  crew  for 
the  iron  whale  boat,  and  we  would  have  to  leave  at 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

Dawn    was    just    breaking    when    we    paddled    out 
beyond    the    headland,    and    found    ourselves    on     the 
Congo    at   last.       In    about    two    hours    we    arrived    at 
Barumba.     We  had  hardly  got  out  on  the  shore  when 
we  heard  the  blast    of   a    whistle,  and   the   steamer,  La 
Reine  Elizabeth,   came  round    the  bend.       She  was  not 
a    passenger    boat,    and    the     five     little    cabins    were 
already  taken    by  Congo   officials  who   were    returning 
home  for   their   furloughs    to  Europe.     The  captain  at 
first   did   not  wish   to    take    us    as    deck  passengers.     I 
was  trying    to    explain,   in   French,  the  urgency  of    our 
case,  when  suddenly  with  a  grin,  he  said:    "Oh,   well, 
come    along  ;    get    your   things    on    board.      But    why 
don't  you    speak    United  States?"     Literally  I  fell  on 
his  neck.     He  was  breaking  the  rules  of  the  company, 
which  forbid  white   men   from  travelling  on  deck,   but 
he  could  not  resist  our  appeal.     Had  we   been  forced 
to  wait  much  longer  it  might  have  gone  hard,   for  \\e 
were  about  at   the    end    of    our  tether  so   far  as  health 
and    spirits  were    concerned.     Kearton    had    lost    forty- 
two  pounds  since  starting  ;  and  I  was  lighter  in  weight 


222         THROUGH    CENTRAL  AFRICA 

than    I    was    in     my   schoolboy    days,    having    dropped 
nearly  thirty  pounds  somewhere  along  the  Equator. 

Although  the    captain    did   everything   he  could  for 
us— and  although   the  four  Belgian  officials,  who  were 
all  Swedes,   and    a    Jesuit  White  Father  who  occupied 
the    staterooms,    made     us    welcome — there    was    very 
little    comfort    for    us    during    the    next    fourteen    days 
down  the    river.     No  matter  where  we    sought   to    put 
our  cots,  we  could  not  find  a  single  secluded  or  com- 
fortable corner.      It  was    sleeping    out    of    doors  with    a 
vengeance.     When  it  rained,  as  it  often  did,  we  were 
wet,  and  when    the  wind    blew  we   were    constantly  in 
draughts    of    all    kinds,    and    the    ticks    and    ants    that 
came    up    out    of    the  fuel  wood  were    pestiferous  to  a 
degree.     On   the   lower  deck  there  were   some  seventy 
or  eighty  black   passengers,  and   twelve  cases  of   sleep- 
ing sickness  among  them.     Altogether  it  could  not  be 
called  a  pleasure  excursion,  but  it  was  interesting  none 
the  less.     Every  evening  we  would   tie  up  to  the  bank 
at  some  wood    post  or  village,  and   late    into   the  night 
the     noise     and     racket     of     loading    fuel    continued. 
The    way    those    furnaces    ate    up    logs    and    cord-wood 
was  a   caution.     It  would    be    piled    high    as   the  deck 
beams  in  the    morning,  and   by  night-time  would  have 
vanished.     Sometimes  we  would  stop  in  the  middle  of 
the    day  and    load    on   some  fifty   or   sixty  cords.     The 
rest  of  the  cargo  consisted  of  copal  and   palm-oil  nuts. 
I  do  not  think  there  were  fifty  bags  of  rubber  in  the 
lot. 

The    river    had    a    tremendous    interest    to    me    for 


BARUMBA.     WHERt:    Wl,     Jo:;,l,ij     liU,    Sll-.AMLR 


A    CONGO    MlSSiu:.:     SlAi 


THE    STEAMER   TIED    UP    FOR    THIC    NIGHT 


THE    FORWARD    DECK 


THE   CONGO   AT   LAST  223 

man}'  reasons.  As  the  days  went  on,  as  we  passed 
by  the  many  httle  villages  and  posts  and  the  stretches 
of  abandoned  sites  and  plantations,  now  denuded  of 
their  inhabitants  owing  to  the  ravages  of  the  sickness, 
I  was  looking  forward  to  arriving  at  one  place  of 
special  interest — Lukellia.  The  captain  told  us  that 
we  would  tie  up  there  for  the  night,  and  would 
possibly  spend  most  of  the  day  taking  on  cargo. 

Why  did  this  one  little  river  village  hold  an  in- 
terest above  all  others?  Simply  for  the  reason  that 
for  years  1  had  pictured  it  in  my  mind  without 
thinking  that  my  eyes  would  ever  behold  it.  Here 
was  enacted  a  story  that  I  had  listened  to  more 
than  once,  and  here  had  lived  one  of  the  best  friends 
that  I  ever  had  in  my  life,  and  one  of  the 
finest  and  manliest  human  beings  that  had  ever  left 
home  and  comfort  and  battled  with  the  wilderness. 
The  story  of  E.  J.  Glave  is  known  to  very  few.  It 
will  do  to  tell  it. 

I  had  met  him  in  1891  in  New  York,  and  in  a 
lifetime  that  had  known  many  close  and  intimate 
friendships,  never  had  there  been  one  that  had 
meant  so  much  to  me,  for  his  was  the  most  com- 
pelling and  winning  personality  that  up  to  that  time 
I  had  ever  met.  He  was  a  knight  without  fear  and 
without  reproach,  and  his  life  from  the  time  of  late 
boyhood  had  been  filled  with  the  romance  of  ad- 
venture and  successful  accomplishment  of  tasks  before 
which  many  men  would  have  quailed  or  surrendered. 

When    Henry    M.  Stanley   was    in    England    in  the 


224         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

early  'eighties,  arranging  the  personnel  of  his  new 
government  of  Equatoria,  among  the  many  applicants 
for  positions  was  E.  J.  Glave,  then  hardly  twenty 
years  of  age.  When  Stanley  met  the  young  man,  de- 
spite his  youth,  there  must  have  been  something  about 
fiim  that  impressed  Stanley,  for  when  his  force  of  men, 
picked  for  their  promise  of  ability,  had  all  been 
chosen,  Glave  was  among  them,  and  Lukellia  was  his 
station.  And  here  for  three  years  he  had  lived — for 
over  two  of  them  alone,  and  all  those  who  had  known 
him  and  all  who  had  ever  heard  of  him,  had  supposed 
him  dead.  It  was  a  strange  story,  and  well  did  I  re- 
call it  as  the  steamer  swung  into  the  bank  and  I 
gazed  at  the  huts  ashore,  at  the  towering  forest,  and 
the  wide  stretch  of  the  silently  flowing  river.  Many 
times  had  his  eyes  searched  that  expanse  looking  to 
the  west  for  the  relief  and  assistance  that  never  came. 

When  he  had  first  been  left  at  the  station  he  had 
with  him  a  companion,  a  young  Englishman.  The 
natives,  although  cannibals,  had  received  them  kindly. 
Glave's  force  and  adaptability  had  won  ascendancy 
over  the  native  mind  at  once,  but  it  was  not  long  be- 
fore he  and  his  companion  were  both  sick  with  the 
fever  that  so  few  white  men  ever  escape.  They 
nursed  each  other  through  successive  attacks  and  at 
last  reached  that  state  of  being  permanently  half  well 
which  is  the  usual  condition  of  men  of  even  the 
strongest  physique  in  the  fever  belts  of  Africa. 

One  day  Glave's  companion  had  crossed  the  river 
in  a  canoe  to  shoot  buffaloes,  and  as  my  friend  stood 


THE   CONGO   AT   LAST  225 

on  the  shore,  watching  the  canoe  returning  in  the 
evening,  he  saw  that  there  was  a  long  space  hetwcen 
the  paddlers  and  no  hgure  sitting  in  the  middle. 
That  space  contained  the  mangled  body  of  the  only 
white  man  within  some  seven  hundred  miles,  crushed 
beyond  recognition  by  a  wounded  bulfalo  bull.  1  re- 
called the  dramatic  scene  of  the  funeral  as  Glave  had 
told  it  to  me  ;  I  pictured  it  to  myself — the  grave  under 
the  big  tree,  and  that  brave-hearted  boy — for  he  was 
hardly  more — reading  the  simple  burial  service  from 
the  prayer-book  his  mother  had  given  him.  1  re- 
member his  telling  of  naked  blacks  seated  on  the 
ground  watching  the  proceedings,  and  how,  suddenly, 
he  noticed  that  all  of  their  eyes  were  directed  at  the 
branch  of  the  big  tree  overhead.  Glancing  up,  Glave 
saw  three  great  hornbills  looking  down  upon  the 
scene  as  if  held  by  curiosity.  But  the  strange  thing 
was  that  they  were  silent,  and  the  hornbill  is  the 
noisiest  of  all  noisy  feathered  things.  Seldom  do  its 
calls  and  squawkings  cease,  but  these  birds  made  no 
sound,  no  movement.  Through  the  whole  of  the 
ceremony  they  remained  there  motionless,  and  when 
all  was  finished  and  the  mound  of  earth  completed, 
without  a  cry  they  sailed  ofif  on  their  broad  wings 
across  the  river. 

For  days,  for  reasons  which  need  not  be  explained, 
Glave  watched  the  mound  and  sat  near  it  at  night. 
And  now  comes  the  dramatic  part  of  the  story.  News 
travels  strangely  along  the  Equator;  where  the  drums 
do  not  talk  it  out  into  the  air  it  seems  to  go  by  word 


226         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

of  mouth,  or  rumour,  through  ahnost  uninhabited 
tracts.  Slowly  word  came  to  the  mouth  of  the  river 
that  both  white  men  at  LukelUa  w^ere  dead.  It  reached 
a  quiet  httle  home  in  England  and  caused  great 
sorrow ;  a  grieved  mother  and  sisters  put  on  the  black 
garb  of  mourning,  and  for  two  years  a  young  man 
upon  that  lonely  river  shore  waited  for  news  of  the 
outside  world.  Then  suddenly  a  little  steamer  had 
pufifed  into  sight  battling  its  way  up  stream,  and  a 
lonely  figure  whose  clothes  were  patched  with  bark 
cloth  came  down  to  the  shore  and  signalled.  Glave 
was  relieved  at  last !      But  the  story  is  not  ended  yet. 

When  I  first  knew  him  he  had  just  returned  from 
an  expedition  into  the  wilds  of  Alaska.  It  was  he 
and  his  companion,  Dalton,  who  had  first  found  gold 
there.  And  there  is  the  last  chapter  to  add  :  In 
'93,  alone  and  unaccompanied  by  another  white  man, 
he  had  answered  the  call  of  Africa  again,  and  on  a 
trip  to  investigate  the  conditions  of  the  dwindling 
slave  trade,  he  had  crossed  the  continent  from  oppo- 
site Zanzibar,  much  of  the  way  along  the  same  route 
that  we  had  followed,  and  alas,  had  died  of  the  fever 
at    Matadi,  where  he  lies  buried. 

I  had  told  all  this  to  the  Photographer,  and  no 
sooner  had  the  steamer  tied  up  than  we  were  ofT  with 
the  cameras  to  try  to  find  Glave's  old  village.  We 
had  been  informed  that  it  was  not  at  the  steamer 
landing-place,  but  some  three  or  four  miles  below  on 
a  trail  that  followed  the  water's  edge  through  the  forest. 
So   we    started    out.     The    miles    seemed   to   lengthen ; 


THE   CONGO   AT   LAST  227 

the  hour  or  so  that  we  expected  to  walk  grew  to  two 
hours  and  no  signs  of  habitation.  Then  we  found  a 
small  path  leading  to  the  right  and  we  came  to  a 
spot  where  a  village  once  had  been,  and  farther  on  a 
collection  of  two  or  three  miserable  little  huts,  three 
or  four  black  men  and  half  a  dozen  women. 

"Lukellia?" 

They  nodded,  but  that  was  all  we  could  get  out 
of  them. 

There  were  lots  of  big  trees  and  branches  extend- 
ing overhead,  and  probably  in  the  clearing  that  was 
now  being  overgrown  there  had  once  been  room  for 
a  village  of  two  hundred  huts  or  more.  The  women 
and  men  were  all  young,  and  even  if  they  could  have 
understood  our  questions  there  would  not  have  been 
found  a  single  human  being  alive  who  would  have 
remembered  the  white  man  who  lived  there  so  many 
years  ago.  Yet  here,  perhaps,  he  had  stood  and 
watched  that  canoe  slowly  crossing  with  the  ominous 
space  between  the  paddlers  ;  and  here  he  had  waited 
day  after  day.  Was  it  just  as  I  had  depicted  it  in 
my  mind's  eye  ?  Somewhat,  and  yet  not  quite.  Those 
mental  places  that  we  possess  so  vividly  and  that  never 
fade,  seldom  bear  semblance  to  locations  of  reality. 

A    sudden    darkening   of   the    sky   warned    us    of    a 

coming  storm,  and  just  as  we  got  back  to  the  steamer 

landing  it  burst  in  a  drenching  downpour  accompanied 

by  fierce    thunder    and    lightning,   but    it    cleared  away 

about   ten  o'clock    to  one   of    the  most   brilliant    starlit 

nights  that  1  have  ever  seen. 
29 


228         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

I  was  leaning  over  the  rail  of  the  steamer  when 
a  figure  joined  me.  It  was  the  tall  White  Father, 
who  had  told  me  in  a  conversation  that  he  had  been 
out  there  for  nineteen  years.  His  hair  and  beard 
were  snow  white,  but  he  was  hardly  more  than  fifty 
years  of  age.  For  one  of  his  calling  he  was  very 
broad-minded,  and  he  spoke  French  and  English  and 
a  half  a  dozen  native  dialects  fluently.  Knowing  that 
all  the  official  passengers,  including  ourselves,  were 
bound  for  Matadi  and  for  the  steamer  that  would  take 
us  away  from  Africa,  I  asked  him  if  he  were  going 
to  Europe  also.  He  looked  up  at  the  sky  and  out  at 
the  dark  shore  line. 

"  No,"  he  said,  rather  sadly,  **  we  do  not  go 
back.  You  remember  what  Livingstone,  the  great 
English  missionary,  said,  when  urged  to  return  ? 
'  My  work  lies  here.'" 

I  tried  to  recall  the  last  words  written  by  the  great 
man  whose  name  he  had  mentioned  which  ran  some- 
what as  follow:  "May  blessings  fall  upon  the  head 
of  that  man,  be  he  Jew,  Mohammedan,  or  Christian, 
who  brings  relief  to  the  sufferings  of  these  unhappy 
people."  Yes,  under  that  bright  star-spotted  sky  lay 
one  of  the  sore  spots  of  the  earth.  Along  the 
plague-swept  banks  of  the  great  river  lies  work  for 
men,  not  creeds  or  propaganda.  The  best  results — 
the  only  lasting  good— will  be  performed  by  those 
who,  entering  on  their  labours,  will  not  turn  back 
because  the  task  seems  hopeless. 


WOMEN    AT    A     LANDING     PLACE 


CHAPTER  XTX 

THE    LOWKR     REACHES 

BESIDES  Ernesti,  the  only  one  of  onr  hoys  who 
had  joined  us  in  British  East  Africa  and  who 
came  to  London  with  us  in  the  end,  we  had  kept  on 
a  well-trained  personal  servant  who  had  joined  us  at 
Irumu.  I  have  forgotten  his  native  name,  but  he 
answered  to  Pete,  as  well  as  anything  else,  so  it  stuck, 
by  him.  Pete  and  Ernesti  had  stowed  themselves  away 
somewhere  on  the  lower  deck,  keeping  watch  over 
our  belongings.  Neither  of  them  had  ever  travelled 
on  a  river  steamer  before.  They  would  sit  there 
watching  the  engine  by  hours,  following  the  thrust  of 
the  great  sliding  piston  rods,  lost  in  wonderment  at 
the  never-ceasing  energy. 

One  day,  I  noticed  Pete  standing  below  on  the 
lower  deck  and  looking  up  at  the  steering  bridge  or 
platform.  His  attitude  was  one  of  such  astonishment, 
the  expression  of  his  face  showed  such  awe  and  plea- 
sure, that  going  back  a  little  way,  and  ascending  the 
wooden  ladder  I  tried  to  see  what  attracted  his 
attention,  and  then,  suddenly,  I  understood  it  all. 
The  pilot  at  the  wheel  of  the  steamer  was  a  black  man. 
He  was  dressed  in  an  old  cotton  shirt  and  the  rem- 
nants of    a    pair    of   yellow    dungaree    trousers.       Pete, 

229 


230         THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

who  was  attired  in  a  cast-off  suit,  was  much  the 
better  dressed,  but  what  evidently  impressed  him  was 
that  a  man  of  his  own  colour,  of  his  own  race,  should 
know  the  magic  methods  by  which  the  big  boat 
turned  from  one  bank  towards  the  other  and  followed 
the  winding  channel.  He  probably  felt  a  mingled  pride 
and  rejoicing  in  the  responsibility  that  had  been  en- 
trusted to  one  of  his  own  kind.  A  little  turn  of  the 
steering  wheel  and  the  vessel's  bow  swung  to  the 
right,  another  turn  she  straightened  out  down  the 
centre  of  the  stream.  Pete  couldn't  understand ;  it 
fascinated  him.  The  black  pilot  glanced  down  and 
saw  him.  Their  eyes  met  and  as  politely  as  he  ever 
lifted  his  hat  to  a  miisungo,  Pete  saluted  and  bowed 
to  that  wonderful  black  brother,  a  bow  that  was  re- 
warded by  a  cold  and  self-important  stare.  But 
altogether  the  whole  affair  tended  toward  the  uplifting 
of  Pete. 

At  Volobo  there  is  quite  an  important  post  of  the 
Baptist  Missionary  Society,  and  here  we  met  a  Mr. 
Scrivener  who  remembered  Glave  and  Stanley  very 
well.  There  is  a  hospital  here  in  charge  of  a  young 
medical  missionary,  Dr.  Curling,  who,  while  we  were 
there,  had  a  number  of  cases  of  sleeping  sickness 
under  observation.  The  doctor  expressed  the  great 
hope  that  some  day  there  would  be  found,  if  not  an 
absolute  cure,  a  method  of  preventing  the  spreading 
of  the  disease.  The  fly,  or  flies — for  it  is  now  thought 
there  is  more  than  one^ — that  carry  it,  and  whose  bites 
infect,    live    in    the    low    bush    and    generally    in    the 


THE   LOWER   REACHES  231 

vicinity  of  water.  They  do  not  travel  far  froin  tlie 
shelter  and  apparently  abhor  the  v^'ide  and  empty 
spaces;  in  bad  areas  the  government  is  clearing  away 
the  underbrush,  and  has  made  some  progress  in 
planting  lemon  grass,  for  it  is  said  that  the  tsetse  fly 
will  not  cross  ground  so  planted.  However,  the 
efficacy  of  this  has  been  denied.  Both  Kearton  and 
myself  had  been  bitten  a  number  of  time  by  this  per- 
nicious insect,  and  I  can  vouch  for  the  fact  that  the  after 
effect  is  quite  different  from  that  of  an  ordinary  bite  ; 
it  produces  a  burning  red  spot  that  in  some  cases  will 
last  for  months.  It  is  asserted  by  those  who  have  made 
a  study  of  the  subject  that  in  the  bad  districts  only  four 
out  of  every  thousand  flies  are  infected.  But  once  the 
germ  obtains  access  to  the  blood,  the  doom  of  the 
person  w^ho  has  been  bitten,  is  sealed.  In  the  Congo 
region  as  the  death  rate  increased  the  birth  rate  has 
decreased.  We  were  informed  that  where  the  sickness 
was  particularly  bad  it  was  hard  to  get  the  people  to 
take  the  slightest  interest  in  any  occupation  or  industry; 
they  simply  sit  round  expecting  to  die.  This  curious 
fatalism  is  characteristic  of  the  African  races.  If  a 
black  man  makes  up  his  mind  that  he  is  going  to 
'  Kufa '  no  power  of  medicine  can  save  him — he 
departs    on  his  own    pre-arranged  date. 

I  remember  the  day  when  rounding  a  bend,  in- 
stead of  the  monotonous  forest,  there  could  be  seen 
in  the  distance  the  rounded  tops  of  hills.  The  coimtry 
changes  as  suddenly  on  the  west  side  as  it  does  on 
the  east.     This  is   due   most   probably  to   the   soil  con- 


232         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

ditions,  and  not  to  any  work  of  clearing.  Although 
we  passed  patches  of  woods  of  a  respectable  size,  the 
green  ramparts  in  their  everlasting  monotony  no 
longer  rimmed  the  banks.  Through  the  middle 
reaches,  where  the  Congo  is  at  its  widest  and  in  its 
most  sluggish  period,  the  main  channel  runs  in  and 
out  of  the  green,  half  water-swept  islands,  the  channel 
sometimes  appearing  to  turn  almost  diagonally  across 
the  stream.  Although  the  pilot  had  to  depend  upon 
memory  for  a  great  part  of  the  journey,  sign-posts 
pointing  the  way  were  as  frequent  here  as  in  any 
well-motored  district  in  America  or  the  Continent. 
Great  white  arrows  visible  at  two  or  three  miles  were 
nailed  to  the  trunks  of  the  trees,  and  although  there 
are  no  lighthouses,  and  Congo  river  traffic  is  re- 
stricted to  the  day  time,  a  steamer  could  hardly  lose 
her  way. 

Clearing  after  clearing,  empty  of  habitation  or 
human  life  showed  where  the  sleeping  sickness  had 
done  its  work  ;  deserted  or  half-deserted  villages  were 
on  either  hand.  When  we  got  into  the  meadow  land 
and  the  country  of  the  rolling  hills,  evidences  of 
human  occupation  were  farther  and  farther  apart. 
Great  flocks  of  little  birds  flew  up  out  of  the  reeds; 
occasionally  a  diver  or  grebe  scuttled  out  of  sight. 
Once  only  did  we  see  a  crocodile  raising  its  ugly 
snout,  and  it  was  not  until  we  had  nearly  reached 
Stanley  Pool  that  we  saw  any  hippopotami ;  there  a 
herd  of  a  dozen  or  so  popped  up  their  heads  and 
pointed  their  inquisitive  ears  at  the  passing  steamer. 


THE   LOWER   REACHES  233 

We  had  taken  on  board  at  one  of  the  jiosts  a 
company  of  native  sokliers  under  a  while  oHieer, 
bound  on  a  punitive  expedition  against  a  httle  trilie 
whose  village  lav  up  one  ot  the  Congo  tributaries 
that  flowed  out  of  the  marshy  country  to  the  south. 
Little  vengeance  would  they  reek  on  the  chief.  They 
would  burn  down  his  grass  huts;  he  and  his  people 
would  hide  until  the  soldiers  had  gone  away,  and 
inside  of  a  week  build  another  town.  At  least  that  is 
what  was  told  to  me  by  the  officer  in  charge,  who 
said  he  did  not  look  forward  to  any  lighting.  The 
natives  are  almost  entirely  unarmed  now,  for  the  im- 
portation of  powder  and  firearms  is  restricted,  and 
what  they  possess  are  useless  against  modern  rifles. 
Almost  all  of  these  soldiers,  although  they  only  ex- 
pected to  t^e  gone  a  month  or  less,  had  brought  their 
families  with  them,  for  to  move  an  African  regiment 
or  company — in  fact,  to  keep  them  together  in  order 
— the  wives  have  to  be  taken  into  account.  I  noticed 
that  each  prepared  her  lord  and  master's  food, 
arranged  his  sleeping  mat,  and  when  they  went 
ashore  carried  all  his  impedimenta,  and  in  some 
cases  even  his  rifle.  They  made  the  fires,  and 
even  filled  and  lit  and  set  going  their  husbands' 
pipes. 

There  was  a  curious  figure  to  be  seen  on  deck 
and  much  in  evidence  at  every  landing-place,  a  pure 
albino,  who  came,  I  am  told,  from  one  of  the  river 
tribes  above  Stanleyville.  His  flesh  was  a  pink  white, 
much  whiter  than   any  white  man's  ;    his  hair  was  the 


234         THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

lightest  yellow  wool,  almost  golden ;  and  while  his 
features  were  pure  negroid,  his  eyes,  evidently  suffer- 
ing from  the  sunlight,  were  squinted  to  narrow  slits, 
and  were  blue  in  colour.  He  was  a  great  swimmer, 
and  it  was  his  province  to  go  overboard  with  the 
bow  line  that  towed  the  mooring  cable  to  the  shore. 
The  pink  white  of  his  flesh,  his  shoulders  only  slightly 
freckled,  made  him  stand  out  in  marked  contrast  to 
the  black  crowds  in  which  he  sometimes  mingled  on 
the  banks. 

Once  on  the  march  while  making  a  long  portage, 
we  had  met  an  albino  woman  in  one  of  the  villages. 
The  dead  white  of  her  skin  and  her  hair  made  her 
appearance  most  uncanny,  while  the  pinkness  of  her 
eyes  was  as  vivid  as  that  of  any  white  rabbit  that  one 
ever  saw.  The  albino  freak,  we  were  told,  occurs 
more  commonly  with  the  male  sex  than  it  does  with 
the  female.  It  was  regarded  as  quite  lucky  to  have 
one  in  the  village.  This  boatman  was  a  well-known 
character,  and  the  captain  said  that  he  was  one  of 
the  best  workers  he  ever  had. 

We  steamed  into  Stanley  Pool  one  Sunday,  and 
as  we  crossed  the  wide  expanse  we  could  see  budd- 
ings showing  through  the  trees.  Soon  we  tied  up  to 
the  bank  at  Kinshassa.  Our  river  journey  was  over. 
As  we  went  ashore,  the  first  thing  that  we  stumbled 
on  was  a  railway  track.  The  sight  of  these  two 
metal  lines  of  the  road  that  runs  down  to  Matadi, 
three  hundred  miles  away,  swept  us  into  the  present, 
and  when  we  found  ourselves  in  the  cafe  of  the  Hotel 


THE   LOWER   REACHES  235 

Cosmopolite  we  realised  that  the  lon^  journey  was 
practically  at  an  end. 

Between  Kinshassa  and  the  port  of  ocean  steamer 
traffic,  Matadi,  lies  a  succession  of  great  rapids,  im- 
passable, and  for  a  long  time  the  barrier  that  prevented 
explorers  from  penetrating  into  the  mysteries  of  the 
dark,  continent.  Past  them  Stanley  had  dragged  his 
boats  on  his  first  trip,  and  until  the  railway  was  ccmi- 
structed  (the  work  was  performed  mostly  b}^  coolie 
labour  at  the  cost  of  four  lives  for  every  mile),  it  was 
the  longest  and  most  wearisome  portage  in  the  world. 
But  now  one  boards  the  train  that  runs  every  other 
day  from  Leopoldville,  through  Kinshassa,  to  Matadi ; 
stopping  for  the  night  at  Thysville,  where  there  is  an 
excellent  hotel.  The  three  hundred  mile  trip  is  made 
in  about  sixteen  hours — not  very  rapid  going.  The 
railroad  is  a  very  good  bit  of  engineering  work;  in 
many  cases,  on  the  steep  descent  from  the  hills,  it 
winds  along  the  sides  and  loops  over  itself,  and  de- 
scending into  the  valley  above  a  roaring  muddy  torrent, 
reaches  the  Congo  bank  again. 

Kinshassa  and  Leopoldville  will  be  important  places 
of  the  Congo,  but  the  former,  which  is  the  starting- 
point  for  all  the  up-river  steamers  and  the  head- 
quarters and  base  for  many  of  the  trading  companies 
of  French,  German  and  Belgian  Equatoria,  is  bound 
to  become  the  most  important.  The  pipe-line  system, 
that  will  soon  be  pumping  oil  from  Matadi,  parallels 
the  railway.  When  this  is  completed,  the  occupation 
of    the    people    who    remain    along   the    river — that    of 


236         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

wood  cutting— will  be  gone  entirely,  but  navigation 
will  be  improved  and  a  deck  passage  will  probably 
be  more  comfortable. 

The  contrast  of  a  clean,  dry  room  at  a  well-ordered 
hotel,  and  the  comfort  of  everything  was  so  sharp  and 
sudden  that,  speaking  for  myself,  it  took  me  some 
days  to  get  used  to  it.  The  first  night  at  Kinshassa, 
I  remember,  I  slept  very  badly.  I  was  trying  too 
hard  to  enjoy  it.  We  met  here  a  party  of  three 
or  four  American  engineers  who  were  going  up 
country  for  a  mining  company.  One  of  them  was 
very  glad  to  take  on  the  services  of  Pete,  but  Ernesti 
was  bound  for  London  with  us,  to  return  to  his  own 
country,  British  East  Africa,  by  the  steamer  from 
Southampton  to  Mombasa  ;  never  in  the  world  could 
he  have  retraced  our  journey  by  himself. 

There  were  a  number  of  white  ladies,  wives  of 
officials,  living  at  Kinshassa,  and  every  evening,  at  tea 
time,  there  was  quite  a  social  gathering  at  the  cafe  of 
the   Hotel  Cosmopolite. 

It  was  quite  curious  to  meet  negroes  who  spoke 
English  with  an  English  accent,  but  here  we  found 
several  from  Nigeria  and  the  Gold  Coast.  They 
came  up  and  introduced  themselves  in  very  easy  and 
democratic  fashion.  Every  other  black  we  met  wished 
to  engage  himself  to  us  as  cook  or  personal   boy. 

Matadi,  when  at  last  we  reached  there,  reminded 
me  of  a  score  of  other  places  I  had  met  with  about 
the  world,  and  yet  I  could  not  place  any  one  of  its 
reminiscent    airs    distinctly.       It    was   Tangier ;    it   was 


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THE   LOWER   REACHES  2^ 

La  Guira,  on  the  Spanish  Main  coast;  it  was  Jamaica, 
Trinidad,  Colon,  Cape  Town  ;  it  was  one  of  the  httle 
hilly  towns  on  the  Bay  of  Naples.  But  the  principal 
thing  that  caught  our  eye  as  we  descended  from  the 
train,  was  the  great  grey  ocean  steamer  moored  to 
the  iron  pier  that  stretched  out  heyond  the  railway 
yards.  It  spelt  Home !  It  was  two  days  before  we 
would  sail,  however,  and  on  one  of  these  days  I  had 
promised  myself  to  make  an  excursion  with  a  particular 
object  in  view  it  was  to  find  Glave's  grave.  After 
making  many  inquiries  I  was  referred,  at  last,  to  the 
missionary  at  the  head  of  the  B.M.S.  Mission  that  lay 
outside  the  town,  a  mile  or  two  away  on  a  hill  over- 
looking a  bend  in  the  river.  This  gentleman  knew  a 
black  missionary  worker,  a  Jamaican  negro,  who,  he 
said,  could  possibly  direct  us  ;  and  furthermore,  he 
promised  us  the  use  of  the  mission  boat  to  niake  the 
trip  down  the  river  the  following  morning. 

It  would  have  been  a  curious  thing  if  this  short, 
Httle  excursion  had  proved  to  be  the  most  disastrous 
of  any  we  had  made  ;  it  nearly  did  so,  however,  and 
gave  us  some  rather  exciting  moments. 


CHAPTER   XX 

THE     LAST     ADVENTURE 

EARLY  the  next  morning  the  Photographer  and 
the  Scribe  were  at  the  mission.  The  missionary 
himself  could  not  see  us,  giving  the  excuse  that  is 
always  taken  in  Central  Africa — he  was  down  with  the 
fever,  and  could  not  leave  his  bed.  But  Gordon,  the 
black  mission  worker,  was  there,  and  the  crew  for  the 
whale-boat,  which  had  been  pulled  up  on  the  bank,  were 
ready.  Our  guide,  counsellor,  and  friend  was  an  im- 
pressive figure.  He  was  dressed  in  a  black  broadcloth 
coat,  white  shirt  and  collar,  and  a  clerical  tie.  Though 
Africa  claimed  his  progenitors,  all  the  African  but 
the  colour  had  been  squeezed  out  of  his  system.  I 
had  seen  his  type  in  the  United  States,  but  never  had 
we  encountered  it  m  our  trip  from  the  Mombasa  to 
the  Congo  mouth.  His  English  was  perfect,  and  his 
enunciation  that  of  an  Oxford  professor.  He  hastened 
to  inform  us  that  he  was  born  in  Kingston,  Jamaica, 
and  was  a  graduate  of  an  English  University,  but 
having  heard  the  "call  of  the  Word"  he  had  come  out 
"to  labour  in  the  vineyard."  From  his  sleekness  and 
general  appearance  of  good  health,  the  labour  had 
agreed  with  him. 

"Having    heard    of   you    gentlemen's    intention    of 

238 


AN    AVMNU1-:     PLANTKU    BY    STANI.KY 


Lf^--^-""^. 


THE    LADIES    WHO    WOULI;     1>U 
30 


I   SS     I   '  ilv      1  ;il-  IR     I'OKTKAl  1 


THE   LAST  ADVENTURE  239 

searching  for  the  place  of  intennent  of  your  {jcp.iited 
friend,  as  one  capahle  of  putting  you  in  liic  riglit 
direction  of  fhuHng  his  final  resting-place,  I  respoiulcd 
with  alacrity  at  the  chance  of  ottering  assistance.  I 
do  not  know  the  exact  position  of  the  monument 
erected  to  the  memory  of  your  friend,  but  doubtless 
we  can  find  it." 

We  went  down  to  the  shore  where  the  crew  were 
waiting.  Ttiey  were  dressed  in  blue  trousers  and 
calico  jumpers  cut  in  sailor  fashion,  with  a  regular 
sailor-hat  as  headgear.  In  a  hollowed-out  canoe  they 
might  have  done  very  well,  but  what  they  knew  about 
handling  a  whale-boat  you  could  have  jiut  in  your 
waistcoat  pocket.  And  the  boat  itself  was  something 
of  a  snare  and  a  delusion.  Years  before  she  might 
have  been  capable  of  any  work  exacted  of  her ;  and 
certainly  she  went  back  to  the  days  of  the  old  sperm- 
whale  industry.  No  sooner  had  we  got  out  into  the 
current  than  she  began  to  leak.  Little  fountains  of 
water  spurted  over  our  feet,  and  those  seams  that  were 
not  gushing  wept  weakly.  There  was  not  a  tight 
strake  in  her  composition.  Under  the  after  thwarts 
were  a  number  of  tins.  While  the  two  bowmen  kept 
rowing  to  keep  the  boat's  head  down  the  stream,  the 
rest  of  the  har.ds  began  to  bail  industriously.  Mr. 
Gordon,  sitting  in  the  stern  sheets,  was  muttering, 
"Oh  dear,  oh  my!"  And  then  suddenly  he  ex- 
claimed, "I  can't  keep  her  straight  at  all,"  the  reason 
for  which  was  plainly  discernible.  He  had  the  tiller 
ropes  crossed. 


240         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

After  half  an  hour  of  rowing,  drifting  and  baiHng,  we 
rounded  the  point  and,  with  an  extra  effort  of  the 
bowmen,  got  the  boat  turned  in  toward  shore.  We 
landed  at  a  little  strip  of  sand  in  a  valley  between  two 
high  hills.  The  grass  was  shoulder  high,  and  in  many 
places  higher.  Following  a  little  rocky  stream  bed 
through  which  crystal-clear  water  was  slowly  trickling, 
we  made  our  way  for  some  three  hundred  yards  and 
then,  climbing  a  steep  bank,  we  found  ourselves  amid 
the  gravestones  of  a  little  cemetery. 

Years  before  when  Matadi  consisted  of  a  few  houses 
and  some  large  buildings  that,  in  the  still  older  day, 
had  been  the  head-quarters  of  the  white  slavers  who 
shipped  their  cargoes  to  America  and  the  West  Indies, 
this  ground  had  been  a  mission  station.  No  fewer 
than  eight  or  ten  members  of  British,  Swedish  and 
American  missions  were  buried  here ;  five  of  them 
were  women,  one  hardly  more  than  a  girl,  for  her  age 
was  placed  on  the  rough -hewn  tombstone  as  but 
twenty-two  years.  Glave's  resting-place  was  not 
among  them  ;  we  searched  for  another  half-hour  before 
we  found  it.  Evidently  no  one  had  visited  this  lonely 
mound  for  years.  We  cleared  the  grass  away  and  took 
a  photograph.  The  bronze  tablet  that  had  been  sent 
out  in  1896  by  a  returning  missionary  was  in  place 
on  the  granite  headstone,  and  the  wording  ran  as 
shown  on  the  opposite  page. 

No  finer  epitaph  could  a  man  wish  for  than  this, 
and  no  better  setting  for  a  man  of  his  calibre  could 
be    found    than    this    lonely    Congo    hillside    with    the 


THE    LAST   ADVENTURE 


241 


great  river  sweeping  past  and  the  wild  thorn  and  the 
elephant  grass  shroiuling  hini.  There  was  one  thing 
I  knew,  that  if  he  had  been  alive  and  accessible  he 
would  have  been  with  us  on  this  triji.  How  much 
more  successful  it  would  have  been!  How  much  more 
we  would  have  seen  and  understood  !  Many  thoughts 
went  through   my  mind.      Truly  he    was   "a  man    who 


IN    LOVING    MEMORY    OF 

E.   J.    GLAVE 

Born    London,   EngLind 
September  13th,  1862 

Died   Underhill,   Matadi 
May  12th,  1895 


A  man  who  relishes  a  task  for  its  bigness 
^^i^  and  takes  to  it  with  a  fierce  joy 

'"^  OTANLFV 


relished    a    task    for    its     bigness,"     ours    was     much 
smaller,   he   would   have   enlarged   it. 

The  black  mission  worker,  his  broadcloth  coat  and 
trousers  filled  with  burrs  and  grass  spears,  now  in- 
formed us  that  we  had  better  start,  as  it  was  a  long 
pull  against  a  swift  current  back  to  the  landing-place. 
So  we  returned  to  the  shore.  The  crew  had  plugged 
up  some  of  the  worst  holes  in  the  whale-boat  with 
wooden  pegs  and  had  caulked  some  of  the  seams  with 
bits  of  cloth  torn  from  the  stern  sheets  covering.     We 


242         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

shoved  off.  On  our  way  down  we  had  had  no  real 
idea  of  the  strength  of  tlie  current,  but  now  we  could 
see  that  it  was  running  like  a  mill  race.  For  minutes 
at  a  time  we  remained  almost  stationary.  By  hard 
work  we  rounded  the  first  point.  Above,  there  was 
a  still  greater  force  to  the  water  and  some  in-shore 
rocks  set  the  stream  out  toward  the  middle  of  the 
river.  Just  as  we  caught  this  eddy,  one  of  the  men 
pulling  port  stroke  jerked  his  oar  out  of  the  rowlock 
and  went  over  backwards  into  the  lap  of  the  man 
behind  him.  The  force  of  the  running  water  almost 
swept  the  bow  round.  Two  of  the  plugs  had  come 
out  and  little  streams  began  to  spurt  from  under  the 
thwarts  and  from  along  the  keel.  We  had  to  do  the 
ba  ling  now,  for  we  could  not  spare  the  man  from 
the  oars.  Our  one  idea  was  to  get  to  shore.  As  the 
water  gained,  the  boat  became  heavier  and  heavier. 
Twice  we  were  within  ten  feet  of  the  shore  and  were 
beaten  back.  As  long  as  we  kept  th:it  distance  in  we 
were  all  right,  for  if  the  worst  came  to  the  worst  and 
the  boat  sank,  we  could  still  get  to  safety  ;  but  there 
was  always  the  chance  of  being  swept  out  again,  and 
against  the  current  in  the  centre  no  swimmer  could 
have  fought. 

Noticing  from  the  ripples  that  there  were  some 
shallows  ahead  we  urged  the  rowers  on,  pushing 
against  their  oars  as  they  pulled.  The  water  was 
almost  up  to  our  knees  when  the  two  bowmen  bundled 
over  and  held  us  from  drifting  back.  Again  we  had 
to    bail  the    old    tub    out,    and    trust    ourselves    to   the 


GLAVi:  S     LONELY    GRAVE 


THE   LAST   ADVENTURE  243 

river  once  more.  We  were  nearly  over  the  worst  of 
it  when  we  noticed  a  pecuhar  phenomenon.  The 
water  near  the  shore  and  farther  out  in  the  river 
seemed  at  regular  intervals  to  spout  high  in  the  air, 
as  if  some  huge  animal  were  trying  to  force  its  way  up 
stream.  It  puzzled  us  for  the  moment,  and  then  we 
saw  the  reason.  A  mile  or  so  below  Matadi  a  tele- 
graphic cable  stretches  across  the  river,  high  enough 
for  the  masts  of  the  steamships  to  pass  beneath  it. 
It  had  been  all  right  when  we  went  down,  but  for 
some  unaccountable  reason  must  have  parted  within 
the  last  hour  or  so.  Now  it  sagged  down  into  the 
current  and  when  dragged  to  its  full  length  would 
come  whipping  out  as  if  some  gigantic  fisherman 
were  trying  to  make  a  wheel  cast  across  the  wide 
expanse  of  water.  Had  that  steel  cable  caught  us 
when  we  were  floundering  in  the  deeper  water  we 
should  have  capsized  to  a  certainty.  We  passed  un- 
derneath in  safety,  and  after  nearly  three  houts'  work 
reached  the  landing-place.  I  do  not  think  that  the 
old  boat  will  ever  make  that  trip  again.  Tired  and 
bedraggled  we  made  our  way  back  to  the  hotel. 

With  all  our  belongings  on  board  the  Anversville 
we  stood  looking  over  the  rail  the  next  morning,  our 
adventures  and  hardships,  such  as  they  were,  behind 
us.  The  last  passengers  were  coming  on  board.  I 
could  not  but  notice  how,  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
Africa  had  stamped  its  mark  on  most  of  their  frames 
and  faces.  The  really  healthy-looking  man  was  a  rare 
exception.     Many  of  our  fellow  voyagers  were  invalids 


244        THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

returning  home.  I  noticed  a  poor  woman  being 
helped  down  the  dock  ;  she  had  evidently  come  from 
the  hospital.  Her  feet  were  in  hospital  slippers,  and 
she  still  wore  a  hospital  dressing  sacque,  soiled  and 
worn.  But  from  somewhere  she  had  resurrected  a 
frayed  picture  hat  with  dangling  flowers  ;  it  made  her 
yellow  face,  in  which  suffering  was  plainly  marked, 
much  more  wan  and  sickly.  She  was  making  a  brave 
front  of  it;  for  if  the  ship's  doctor,  who  was  examin- 
ing all  passengers,  decided  that  her  case  was  hopeless 
or  very  bad,  she  would  not  be  allowed  to  board  the 
steamer.  The  doctor  looked  at  her  critically.  She 
tried  to  smile,  even  to  laugh,  and  pushed  away  the 
friend's  arm  which  was  supporting  her.  One  could  see 
that  her  fate  was  hanging  in  the  balance  ;  but  she 
had  friends,  had  that  sick  woman,  and  two  now  came 
to  her  rescue  and  began  to  plead  her  cause.  One 
was  a  sallow-faced  young  man  with  budding  mous- 
tache and  soft,  flufTy  beard  just  beginning  to  darken 
his  cheeks  and  chin.  What  arguments  he  used  1  do 
not  know,  but  eventually  the  doctor  waved  them 
toward  the  companion-way.  Bravely  the  woman  walked 
up  the  many  steps,  and  when  she  reached  the  deck 
collapsed  and  was  helped  into  a  steamer  chair.  She 
sat  there  drawing  long,  painful  breaths,  but  in  her 
eyes  and  on  her  lips  was  a  smile  of  peace  and  hope  ! 
They  have  a  right  to  be  careful,  these  ships' 
doctors.  On  the  voyage  previous  to  the  one  on 
which  we  were  embarking,  they  had  dropped  eight 
shotted     bundles     over    the     side     before    the     vessel 


THE   LAST  ADVENTURE  245 

reached  the  Grand  Canaries.  On  this  voyage  the 
engines  were  stopped  and  the  hells  were  tolled  for 
two.  Not  for  the  youn^  woman,  1  am  ^lad  to  say, 
for  she  improved  daily,  and  I  saw  her  j^rcct  her 
friends  on  the  quay  at  Antwerp.  She  j^rew  younger 
also,  and  when  the  hospital  clothes  had  been  replaced 
by  others  she  used  to  walk  the  deck  with  the  youn^ 
man  with  the  soft  beard.  She  was  a  widow,  I  was 
told,  whose  husband  had  died  but  recently  up  country. 
The  young  man  was  his  friend  who  had  promised  to 
see  her  back  to  her  people. 

But  the  romance  I  was  building  ended  on  the 
quay,  for  he  was  met,  in  his  turn,  by  a  pretty 
Belgian  girl,  who  threw  her  arms  round  his  neck 
and  wept  her  welcome  on  his  shoulder.  It  is  too 
bad  that  we  can  never  follow  these  things  out.  She 
may  have  been  his  sister,  and — but  we  are  dealing 
with  facts,  and  I  am  anticipating  ;  we  have  not  yet 
cleared  the  Congo  mouth. 

In  Portuguese  West  Africa,  which  is  just  across 
the  river  from  the  little  town  of  Boma,  which  was 
our  next  stopping  -  place,  the  blacks  had  been  in 
revolt  since  early  in  March — a  war  was  on,  and 
many  refugees  had  crossed  into  Belgian  territory. 
From  the  steamer  we  could  see  the  smoke  of  burn- 
ing shambas  and  white  men's  houses  and  plantations. 
Twenty-one  white  men  had  already  been  killed  in 
the  uprising.  We  spent  a  day  taking  in  cargo  at 
the  iron  wharf,  and  Kearton  and  1  called  on  the 
governor    at    Government    Mouse.       We     were     both 


246        THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

impressed  with  him,  and  he  struck  us  as  being  a 
strong  and  able  man. 

"The  Congo,"  said  he,  "is  not  what  once  it 
was,  some  people  think ;  its  commercial  future  is 
problematical.  But  look  at  the  new  discoveries  of 
gold,  and,  recently,  of  diamonds.  The  attention  of 
America  and  England  is  being  drawn  to  its  great 
possibilities,  but  this  dread  disease  of  sleeping  sick- 
ness is  our  question  just  at  present.  It  is  the  one 
thing  that  confronts  us.  Whether  the  solution  will  be 
found  in  this  year  or  next,  it  must  be  the  thing  before 
the  mind  of  every  official  who  has  the  future  of  the 
country  and  the  welfare  of  his  people  in  his  trust." 

What  the  governor  said  but  echoed  the  report  of 
every  one  of  the  thinking  people,  both  missionaries 
and  officers,  whom  we  have  met.  I  remember  that  in 
the  days  of  the  so-called  Congo  atrocities  the  whole 
world  was  stirred  and  all  eyes  were  centred  on  the 
Congo.  There  were  committees  of  investigation,  and 
vast  sums  were  subscribed  in  aid  of  the  cause  that 
finally  wrought  great  changes  in  the  lives  and  destinies 
of  the  blacks.  Here  was  a  question  much  greater  and 
more  vital.  And  yet  except  for  the  efforts  of  a  few 
dovoted  men  of  science  and  some  medical  missionaries 
maintaining  with  difficulty  these  struggling  hospitals, 
the  world  hardly  knows  of  the  extent  of  this  great 
scourge.  Even  should  a  cure  be  found  the  method 
of  its  administration  over  so  vast  a  territory  and  among 
so  many  diflferent  tribes  would  be  a  problem. 

The    governor    got    out    a  map    and    followed  our 


THE   LAST  ADVENTURE  247 

route  witli  the  greatest  interest.  His  knowleil^e  ot 
the  trihes  and  their  eliaracteristics  was  accurate,  and  he 
was  able  to  give  us  a  great  deal  of  information.  1  le 
spoke  of  the  difficulties  of  photographing  in  so  damp 
a  climate,  and  told  us  a  story  of  a  friend  of  his  who 
had  taken  many  photographs  whose  heart  was  almost 
broken  on  finding  on  his  return  that  almost  every- 
thing was  spoiled.  It  made  us  a  little  nervous  and 
more  anxious  than  ever  to  assure  ourselves  tfiat  our 
reels  of    film  had  not  suffered    the  same    fate. 

In  the  back  yard  of  the  house  of  the  American 
Consul,  Mr.  McBride,  was  the  famous  baobab,  the 
autograph  tree  of  Boma  Some  ten  or  twelve  feet  in 
diameter,  its  smooth  bark  was  covered  with  the  names 
of  ships  that  had  visited  the  station,  and  of  travellers 
and  officers  who  had  gone  ashore.  Some  of  these 
dates  were  back  in  the  late  'fifties  and  early  'sixties. 
Stanley  himself  is  supposed  to  have  carved  his  name 
there,  on  his  first  visit.  Hut  as  his  initials,  "  H.  M.  S.," 
were  the  usual  prefix  meaning  "  Her  Majesty's  Ship," 
and  as  there  were  quite  a  number  of  such,  one 
cannot  be  certain  wdiether  the  great  explorer  left  a 
record  of  his  visit.  Mr.  McBride  possessed  a  most 
interesting  chimpanzee,  who,  although  sometimes 
very  cross,  made  friends  with  us.  He  had  a  little 
table  and  chair  at  which  he  used  to  sit,  would  |miII 
the  cork  out  of  a  bottle  of  sweetened  water,  pour 
the  contents  into  a  glass,  and  was  an  adept  \n  the  use 
of  knife  and  fork.  With  a  napkin  tied  rouiul  his 
neck,    he    was    a    most    ridiculous    figure.     His    table 


248        THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

manners  were  excellent  except  for  a  habit  of  holding 
the  edge  of  the  plate  with  one  of  his  hind  feet.  When 
captured  very  young  these  large  simians  can  be 
taught  anything,  but  as  they  grow  older  and  their 
strength  increases  they  become  rather  dangerous  pets, 
and  are  liable  to  sudden  and  violent  fits  of  temper. 
We  had  been  told  a  story  up  the  river  of  one  that 
had  been  taught  to  wait  at  table  and  was  cele- 
brated for  miles  round.  He  was  owned  by  a  man  at 
Thysville.  But  one  day  having  taken  a  sudden  aver- 
sion to  a  white  guest,  the  beast  attacked  him  so 
fiercely  that  the  man  had  to  be  sent  to  hospital,  and 
from  that  moment  the  chimpanzee  relapsed  into  bar- 
barism and  ended  his  days  behind  the  bars  of  a  cage, 
refusing  even  to  make  friends  with  the  master  for 
whom  he  had  shown  so  much  affection. 

On  the  steamer  there  was  quite  a  menagerie  being 
taken  to  Antwerp,  two  little  "chimps"  among  the 
lot.  Strange  to  say  they  were  the  only  ones  who 
suffered  from  sea-sickness,  the  other  monkeys  were 
apparently  not    disturbed  by  the  motion  of  the  vessel. 

The  lading  having  been  completed,  the  Anversville 
proceeded  down  the  river,  stopping  near  the  mouth 
to  put  off  the  hundred  or  so  black  stevedores  that 
had  been  gathered  at  the  town  of  Banana.  Rest,  regular 
meals  and  comfortable  quarters  began  to  work  miracles 
before  we  had  been  two  days  out  at  sea  We  began 
to  pick  up  our  lost  flesh  in  the  most  surprising  man- 
ner. The  days  held  warm  and  clear.  The  long,  low 
coast  of    Africa  on    our  starboard    hand  was  visible  for 


THE   LAST  ADVENTURE  249 

most  of  the  journe}' — our  thoii^lits  were  of  home. 
Yet  one  day  we  found  ourselves  talkinjij  of  some  day 
returning  ;  we  began  phinning  future  trips,  and  so 
great  is  the  fascinating  hold  of  the  mysterious  continent 
that  Kearton  decided  that  in  another  year  or  so  British 
East  Africa  would  claim  him  as  a  resident.  Even 
those  wearied  officials  going  home  on  furlough  spoke 
of  coming  back  to  the  Congo  As  one  of  them  put 
it  tersely  : 

"No  matter  where  you  go,  no  matter  what  you 
do,  Africa  calls  you." 

We  went  ashore  at  Dakar,  on  the  Senegal  coast, 
and  spent  an  evening  at  the  little  Frenchified  African 
town,  but  were  glad  to  be  back  on  the  steamer 
again.  The  days  passed  quickly,  and  the  next  port 
the  steamer  touched  was  La  Pollice.  It  was  cold, 
stormy  and  rainy  when  we  reached  Antwerp.  Our 
voyage  was  finished,  with  the  exception  of  the  little  trip 
across  the  Channel. 

As  I  looked  out  of  the  window  of  my  hotel  on 
the  same  view  of  Trafalgar  Square  on  which  1  had 
gazed  some  fourteen  months  before,  it  seemed  all  a 
dream.  The  weather  was  exactly  the  same  as  when 
I  had  left  it — cold  and  rainy — although  it  was  now 
springtime.  The  same  old  man  was  selling  papers 
at  the  corner ;  the  be-medalled  porter  at  the  dooi 
stood  in  the  same  place.  Despite  the  sizzling  coals 
in  the  grate,  I  felt  chilled  to  the  marrow  of  my 
bones.     I    felt    the    call!      I   would    have    given    some- 


250         THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

thing  for  the  sight  of  the  wide  stretch  of  the  grey- 
green  plains  dotted  with  thorn  trees,  the  warmth  of 
the  spreading  sunshine,  and  the  gleaming  pinnacle 
of  Kenia  rising  above  the  belt  of  white  clouds! 
Then,  again,  I  thought  of  the  gloom  of  the  forest, 
of  the  cold,  damp  mornings,  and  of  the  prospect 
of  the  long  trudge  through  the  muddy  ooze  ;  of  the 
many  painful  sights  and  the  sickening  villages  ;  and 
I  was  glad  to  be  back  safe  with  it  all  behind  me. 
Experience  is  something  that  one  can  only  buy  with 
experience! 


CHAPTER  XXI 

SOME     NOTES     AND     FIGURES 

WHEN  Henry  M.  Stanley  emerged  at  the  Congo 
mouth  in  August,  1877,  he  had  been  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  days  crossing  from  a  point 
on  the  shore  of  the  Indian  Ocean  opposite  Zanzibar ; 
he  had  travelled,  in  all,  some  seven  thousand  miles ; 
by  many  thousand  the  greatest  inland  exploring  trip 
of  all  time.  Before  he  had  entered,  all  on  the  west 
coast  v^as  a  mystery  beyond  the  first  cataracts  that 
begin  but  a  short  distance  above  Matadi,  and  although 
he  brought  the  first  light  to  the  world  of  the  vast 
interior,  it  was  only  slowly  that  the  actual  facts  and 
figures,  the  distances,  contours,  and  information  of 
the  lives  and  conditions  of  the  people  became  known. 
The  geographical  knowledge  is  now  so  extended  as 
to  be  almost  complete,  but  the  history  of  the  in- 
habitants will  remain  to  the  end  the  great  unwritten 
volume.  Their  numbers  will  never  be  known  ;  those 
authorities  who  have  pretended  to  investigate,  and  who 
have  studied  all  sources  of  information,  vary  in  their 
estimates  by  millions.  Not  one  is  lower  than  fifteen 
millions,  and  some  of  them  as  high  as  forty.  The 
general  consensus  of  opinion  is  that  there  must  be  at 
least  thirty  million  dark-skinned  people  in  scattered 
31  251 


252         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

tribes  and  racial  divisions,  and  that  there  are  more 
different  dialects  spoken,  perhaps,  than  in  all  the  rest 
of  the  world  together.  It  is  the  land  of  Babel,  for 
over  two  hundred  separate  tongues  have  been  recorded. 
Dictionaries  have  been  compiled  of  but  five  ;  the 
Bible  has  been  translated  into  but  four.  The  bewilder- 
ing figures  compiled  and  collated  in  the  libraries  of 
the  world,  having  reference  to  other  continents,  cover 
the  records  of  centuries ;  but  all  figures  are  new  in 
relation  to  the  Dark  Continent,  They  are  none  the 
less  bewildering,  however,  despite  the  fact  that  the 
harvest  of  facts  and  information  is  just  beginning  to 
be  garnered, 

Stanley  travelled  over  seven  thousand  miles,  and  a 
great  portion  of  it  on  foot.  Yet  in  the  great  Congo 
basin  there  are  over  twelve  thousand  miles  of  navi- 
gable river  waters.  Up  and  down  all  these  highways 
the  white  man  has  gone  ;  but  vast  tracts  of  land  that 
lie  between  the  giant  streams  and  tributaries  to  the 
main  artery  are  unexplored  to-day.  In  the  basin 
proper,  that  is,  roughly  speaking,  one  million  five 
hundred  thousand  square  miles,  all  the  whites  taken 
together  would  not  make  up  tlie  population  of  a 
New  England  village ;  should  they  be  called  to  their 
colours,  not  a  civilised  nation  in  the  world  would  be 
unrepresented. 

I  kept  a  notebook  of  the  nationalities  of  the  people 
whom  we  met  in  the  Congo  Beige  alone,  and  they 
footed  up  to  twenty-two.  Hailing  Belgium  as  the 
mother    country  —  for    since    October,    1908,    the    old 


SOME   NOTES   AND   FIGURES         253 

Congo  Free  State  has  become  a  colony  of  Helgiuni — 
the  Belgians  represent  but  little  over  one  half  of  the 
population.  Let  us  look  at  the  make-up  of  the  rest 
of  this  \'anguard  of  civilisation,  this  army  of  adven- 
turers. Where  have  they  come  from  ?  Great  Britain 
is  well  represented  by  over  six  Inmdred.  Every  one 
of  her  larger  colonies  has  sent  its  small  coniingcnt. 
The  United  States  is  there,  in  constantly  increasing 
numbers;  and  the  rest?  Let  us  look  at  the  names  of 
the  countries  they  call  their  fatherlands  :  Germany, 
France,  Portugal,  Norway,  Sweden,  Spain,  Russia, 
Austria,  Canada,  Italy,  Turkey,  Switzerlantl,  Greece, 
Finland,  India,  China,  Japan,  Australia,  New  Zealand, 
Tasmania:  "From  all  the  red  -  mapped  lands  they 
come." 

What  have  they  brought  out  ?  Who  knows  ?  Some 
have  succeeded,  but  many  of  them  have  failed  in  their 
ventures,  many  have  never  returned;  they  will  con- 
tinue to  fail,  they  will  continue  to  find  their  graves 
there.  The  land  with  whose  destinies  they  have  thrown 
in  their  lot  has  been  called  by  one  writer  "The 
Coming  Continent."  "Coming"  it  may  be,  but  this 
generation  will  pass  away  and  its  sons  may  be  old  incn 
before  the  great  land  has  "arrived."  Poor  little  Bel- 
gium, when  she  took  upon  herself  to  join  the  ranks  of 
the  great  landed  estate  holders  assumed,  with  the  title, 
obligations  that  must  now  be  disheaitening.  The 
handsome  blue  Hag  with  the  golden  star  is  her  guerdon 
of  responsibility.  Never  yet  has  the  venture  paid. 
The  lowest  deficit  in  her  colonial  year-book   has  been 


254         THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

approximately  £1,250,000,  the  highest  three  or  tour 
times  this.  What  is  to  be  done  ?  At  the  present 
moment  no  one  is  so  wise,  no  one  is  so  far-seeing 
as  to  prophesy. 

The  government  under  the  old  Free  State,  which 
was  really  but  an  international  association,  was  first 
recognised  as  a  great  power  by  the  United  States  of 
America  in  a  convention  signed  on  the  22nd  of 
April,  1884.  Thence  onwards  it  was  nothing  but  a 
history  of  a  series  of  mismanagement  and  perversion 
of  power.  Stanley  who  had  lifted  the  veil  and  was  the 
best  qualified  to  judge  of  the  needs  and  requirements 
of  native  government,  and  who  had  a  personal  loyalty 
to  Leopold  II.,  wrote  in  1896  of  the  policy  then  in 
force,  that  it  was  "erring  and  ignorant";  he  said  that 
to  go  back  to  the  Congo  "would  be  to  disturb  a 
moral  malaria  injurious  to  the  reorganiser."  It  was 
indeed,  a  black  page,  until  the  so-called  Free  Estates 
became  a  Belgian  colony  and  the  concession  com- 
panies were  made  to  regard  the  laws  not  only  of 
trade,   but  of  humanity. 

So  many  times  I  have  referred  to  Stanley  and  the 
Emin  Pasha  expedition  in  the  pages  that  deal  with  our 
route  of  march  after  leaving  Uganda  that  I  have 
assumed,  apparently,  a  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the 
reader  of  that  most  wonderful  book  which  tells  ot  a 
triumph  over  hardships,  the  victory  over  disheartening 
circumstances.  I  refer  to  Stanley's  "  In  Darkest 
Africa,"  a  book  that  has  been  translated  into  no 
fewer  than  six  languages.       A  particular  reference   has 


SOME   NOTES   AND   FIGURES         255 

been  made  in  more  than  one  case  to  places  and 
persons  mentioned  in  this  wonderful  story.  Perhaps 
in  a  chapter  given  to  notes  and  figures,  a  short  n'sume 
of  this  expedition   might  not  be  amiss. 

Emin   Pasha,  a  German  subject  and  a  man  of  much 
learning  and  education,  although  of  humble  origin,  had 
taken   up   service    under  the    Khedive   of    Kgv|)t.     The 
Mahdist  uprising  in   1881-85  had  left  him  cut  ofi  from 
the  world  in  the  equatorial  province  of  Egypt  of  which 
he    was    then    governor.     Stanley    had    become    deeply 
interested   in   the   ideas  and   schemes  of  William  Mac- 
kinnon,  chairman  of  the  British  India  Steam  Navigation 
Company,  who  had  long  proposed  a  plan  for  establish- 
ing   a    British    protectorate    in    East    Equatorial    Africa. 
It  was  believed  that  this  object  could  be  furthered   by 
an    expedition    that    was    nominally    for    the    relief    of 
Emin    Pasha.     Stanley,  after  some  negotiations,   agreed 
to    head    a    certain    expedition     that,    although    it    was 
English    in    backing    and    composition,    was    placed    at 
the  service   of    the    Khedive  and   carried    the   ffag   with 
the  crescent  moon.     The  English  committee  in  charge, 
of    which    Mr.     Mackinnon     (afterwards    Sir    William), 
was     chairman,     supj^lied     the     major    j^ortion     of     the 
funds,  although  Egypt  was  a  stockholder,  so  to  speak. 
Stanley,  as   chief,   accompanied  by  four  or    five   volun- 
teer   Englishmen,    carefully   selected    from    a    long    list 
of  applicants,  left  Europe  in  January,  18S7.      Instead   of 
choosing   the    direct    route    by    Zanzibar    or   Mombasa, 
Stanley    decided    to    go    by    way    of    the    Congo.        He 
hoped  thus  to  assist  in  solving  some  of  the  difiiculties 


256         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

of  the  Congo  State,  then  in  its  infancy  and  having 
great  difficulties  with  the  Zanzibar  Arabs  estabHshed 
on  the  centre  and  upper  portions  of  the  great  river. 
At  Zanzibar  Stanley  entered  into  an  agreement  with 
Tippu  Tib,  the  chief  of  the  Congo  Arabs,  and  whether 
he  erred  in  judgment  or  not,  he  appointed  him 
governor  of  Stanley  Falls  Station  on  behalf  of  the 
Congo  State.  He  had  been  armed  with  powers  to 
treat  from  no  less  a  person  than  King  Leopold  himself. 
He  contracted  with  this  wily  old  Arab  for  a  supply  of 
carriers  and  porters  for  the  expedition,  who  were  to 
meet  him  at  the  mouth  of  the  Aruwimi  River  where  it 
joined  the  Congo.  With  most  of  the  expedition,  and 
accompanied  by  Tippu  Tib  and  his  personal  staff, 
Stanley  went  by  steamer  round  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  to  the  Congo  mouth.  Above  the  cataracts, 
steamers  and  boats  were  procured  with  great  difficulty, 
but  on  the  30th  of  May  the  station  of  Bangala  was 
reached  and  Tippu  Tib  went  on  to  Stanley  Falls, 
while  the  great  white  leader  prepared  for  the  journey 
to  Albert  Nyanza  where  he  expected  to  meet  Emin. 

On  the  15th  of  June  Yambuya,  on  the  lower 
Aruwimi,  was  reached,  and  here  Stanley  left  his  rear- 
guard under  command  of  Major  E.  M.  Barttelot  and 
Mr.  J.  S.  Jameson.  On  the  28th  Stanley  and  the 
advance  guard  started  for  Albert  Nyanza,  "and  until 
the  5th  of  December,  for  160  days,  we  marched 
through  the  forest,  bush  and  jungle,  without  ever 
having  seen  a  bit  of  greensward  of  the  size  of  a 
cottage  chamber  floor.     Nothing   but  miles  and  miles, 


SOME    NOTES   AND    FIGURES         257 

endless  miles  of  forest."  StaiAation,  fever,  the  lios- 
tilitv  of  tlie  tribes  were  daily  iiuiclents  of  this  terrible 
march,  during  which  Stanley  lost  nearly  hfty  per  cent, 
of  his  men.  On  the  \'Mh  of  December  Albert  Nvanza 
was  reached,  and,  after  some  delay,  communication 
was  opened  with  Emin,  who  came  down  the  lake 
from  the  Nile  in  a  steamer,  the  two  chiefs  meeliiis^ 
on  the  29th  of  April,  1888.  Disquieted  by  the  non- 
arrival  of  his  rearguard,  Stanley  all  alone  retraced  his 
steps,  and  on  the  17th  of  August,  a  short  distance 
above  Yambuya,  found  that  Tippu  Tib  had  broken 
faith,  that  Barttelot  had  been  murdered,  that  Jameson 
(who  died  afterwards  of  fever)  was  absent  at  Stanley 
Falls,  and  that  only  one  European,  William  Bonny, 
was  left  in  the  camp.  Collecting  those  of  the  rear- 
guard who  survived,  Stanley  for  the  third  time  traversed 
the  primeval  forest  towards  Fort  Bodo,  his  head-quarters 
in  the  Ituri  forest,  and  in  January,  1889,  all  tiiat  was 
left  of  the  expedition  was  assembled  at  Albert  Nyanza. 
Of  646  men  with  wdiom  he  entered  the  Congo,  but 
246  remained.  In  April  the  return  journey  to  Zan- 
zibar by  way  of  Uganda  was  begun,  Emin  reluctantly 
accompanying  Stanley.  On  this  homeward  journey 
Stanley  discovered  Rewenzori  (the  Mountains  of  the 
Moon),  traced  the  course  of  the  Semliki  River,  dis- 
covered Albert  Edward  Nyanza  and  the  great  south- 
western gulf  of  Victoria  Nyanza.  During  his  stay  in 
the  Congo  forests  he  had  also  obtained  much  informa- 
tion concerning  the  mbiUi,  or  pygmy  tribes.  As  to 
the   political  results   of   the    expedition,    Stanley's   pro- 


258         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

posals  to  Emin  to  hold  the  Equatorial  Province  for 
the  Congo  State  or  to  move  nearer  Victoria  Nyanza 
and  enter  the  service  of  Mackinnon's  British  East 
Africa  Company  had  not  been  accepted,  but  he  con- 
cluded agreements  with  various  chiefs  in  the  lake 
regions  in  favour  of  Great  Britain,  agreements  which 
were  handed  over  to  the  East  Africa  Company.  On 
the  6th  of  December,  1889,  Zanzibar  was  reached  and 
the  expedition  was  at  an  end. 

Stanley,  better  than  anyone,  has  portrayed  the  hard- 
ships and  difficulties  of  the  forest.  It  was  certainly  a 
greater  trial  of  courage  and  endurance  in  his  day,  for 
he  was  travelling  as  an  explorer  through  a  new  country, 
and  he  had  to  fight  and  battle  his  way  along  from 
one  resting-place  to  another,  a  drawback  that  the 
wise  traveller  nowadays  avoids  by  keeping  away  from 
the  very  bad  country  or  treating  generously  with  the 
native  chiefs  who,  I  can  promise  you,  get  all  they 
can  and  much  more  than  they  deserve. 

Let  us  see  how  the  forest  afifected  another  modern 
traveller  who  went  through  this  same  region.  The 
Duke  of  Mecklenburg,  in  his  book,  "In  the  Heart 
of  Africa,"  pays  tribute  to  the  great  green  dungeon: 

"  This  darksome  forest,  indeed,  with  its  storms 
and  rains,  famine,  disease  and  deadly  attacks,  nearly 
proved  fatal  to  the  whole  caravan,  and  reduced  it  to 
a  condition  of  utter  desperation  and  madness.  The 
first  patch  of  green  grass  appeared  to  us  a  token  and 
promise,  as  the  olive  branch  in  the  mouth  of  the  dove 
did  to  Noah  of  old. 


ON  STANLEYS  ROUTE  THROUGH  THE  JUNGLE 


SOME   NOTES   AND   FIGURES         25Q 

"  Wc  were  travelling  alonj^  jiatlis  wliicli  had  already 
been  made;  we  knew  in  advance  wlure  we  should 
lay  our  heads  to  rest  from  day  to  day  ;  we  weie  well 
siipphed  with  stores  ;  we  journeyed  more  comfortably 
here  than  we  did  at  first  in  the  steppe  country,  or  in 
the  volcanic  region,  and  yet  wc  experienced  that 
oppressiveness  which  is  always  felt  in  this  gigantic 
forest.  The  conditions  of  travelling  were  different  ; 
the  forest  remained  the  same  in  its  immeasurable  and 
inexorable    lonesomeness." 

Further  on  this  writer  says:  "I  believe  a  long 
stay  in  this  forest  would  lead  to  heavy  mental  depres- 
sion in  sensitive  men.  The  unutterable  feeling  of 
oppression  which  makes  itself  felt  in  the  course  of 
time  lies  in  the  absence  of  any  free  view^  the  im- 
possibility of  permitting  the  eye  to  rove  freely  across 
a  wide  space,  or  of  once  catching  a  glimpse  of  sky 
and  earth  merging  in  the  far  horizon." 

We  can  subscribe  to  this.  I  have  remarked  before 
how  conversation  languished  ;  one  felt  no  more  like 
laughing  and  joking  than  one  does  in  the  dusk  of 
evening  in  the  damp  gloom  of  the  unlighted  nave  of 
some  cathedral.  Our  voices,  when  we  did  talk,  were 
subdued  ;  our  spirits  sunk  to  zero.  So  the  pleasant 
part  of  our  recollections  lives  with  the  sunlit  countries, 
they  will  return  many  times  as  pleasant  dreams.  One 
does  not  care  of  one's  own  accord  to  be  uncomfort- 
able, or  to  dwell  too  much  even  on  the  lesser  night- 
mares of  the  past.  Let  the  forest  rest.  We  shall  not 
disturb  its  solitudes. 


CHAPTER  XXTI 

RETROSPECT 

THE  Scribe,  as  he  reviews  these  pages,  feels  some- 
what apologetic.  A  book  on  Africa  is  expected 
to  deal  with  hunting  and  shooting  exploits,  or  to 
contain  profound  scientific  data  relative  to  the  fauna 
and  flora,  or  people  of  the  country  through  which 
the  travellers  passed.  Of  the  making  of  such  African 
travel  books,  however,  "there  is  no  end."  Ours  was 
neither  a  hunting  nor  a  scientific  expedition  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  those  terms.  The  results  of  our 
hunting  are  shown  in  the  photographic  illustrations 
to  our  book:  our  adventures,  such  as  they  were,  were 
relative  almost  entirely  to  that  quest  for  materials  for 
camera  operation.  Had  a  dozen  other  books  cover- 
ing the  same  ground  and  following  the  same  route 
been  illustrated  by  photographic  reproductions  in  the 
generous  manner  that  the  publishers  have  seen  fit  to 
embellish  this  volume,  there  would  have  been  nothing 
to  say,  the  last  word  would  have  been  spoken. 

The  small  effort — for  labour  it  should  scarcely  be 
called  —  of  writing  these  pages  and  compiling  the 
vokmie,  has  been  interrupted  and  the  publication 
delayed    for    a    season.        Both    the    Photographer    and 

the    Scribe,    since   returning,    have  visited   much    more 

260 


RETROSPECT  261 

dangerous  places  than  when  the}^  were  crossinj]^  from 
coast  to  coast  of  Africa.  The  Photoj^jrajihcr  has 
taken  pictures  of  giuis  in  action  and  ol  huislinjr 
shells,  and  the  Scribe  has  seen  the  smoke  risinjj;  oxer 
the  blackened  villaji^es  of  Belgium;  has  watched  tiic 
gre3'-green  lines  of  the  German  troops  marching  out 
to  kill  the  little  blue-clad  men  in  the  heavy  overcoats; 
has  seen  the  helpless  bundles  of  grey  and  blue  lying 
motionless  on  the  sunny  slopes  and  meadows  of  what 
was  the  most  happy  and  peaceful  little  country  in  the 
world.  And  down  there  in  the  Congo  white  men  are 
fighting  white  men,  and  the  black  soldiers  who  arc 
employed  to  fight  anyone  whom  they  are  called  ujion 
to  fight,  are  slaying  each  other  joyfully. 

No  steamers  run  from  Antw^erp  to  the  Congo  now  , 
no  mail  from  home  reaches  the  men  on  the  up-river 
stations.  Central  Africa  is  cut  of^  from  the  worhi  in 
a  way  that  it  has  not  been  for  years.  And  what  is  to 
be  the  fate  of  this  country?  Was  it  with  the  gift  of 
prophecy  that  months  ago,  long  before  war  was  ever 
thought  of,  at  least  by  England,  France  and  Belgium, 
the  Scribe  wrote  as  follows : — 

"  Curiously  enough,  there  are  rumours  spreading 
among  the  natives,  especially  in  the  Eastern  districts, 
that  the  conduct  of  affairs  will  soon  pass  out  of  the 
hands  of  their  present  masters. 

''There  is  Germany  with  a  line  of  railways  from 
the  south-east  to  Tanganyka  ;  there  is  England  with  a 
railway    from    the    coast,    and     a    steamer    line     to    the 


262         THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

western  shore  of  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza ;  thence  to 
the  Congo  border  stretches  a  great  m'litary  road  now 
ahnost  completed  ;  France,  and  Germany  again  in 
the  Kamerun,  lies  to  the  north  and  east,  and  if  the 
lure  is  strong  enough,  who  knows  ?  Politics  at  the 
present  moment  may  be  stirring,  complications  may 
arise  and  war  clouds  may  gather.  All  presages  toward 
the  passing  of  the  Congo  Beige." 

Since  the  company  failed,  it  has  been  nothing  but 
a  well  into  which  Belgium  has  poured  millions  of 
money.  The  great  war  that  may  change  the  map  of 
Europe  may  change  that  of  Africa  also  ;  but  political 
changes,  the  altering  of  boundary  lines,  can  never 
change  Africa  into  anything  but  a  task  for  the  white 
man.  This  land  of  contradictions,  of  puzzling  freaks 
of  nature,  of  dank,  gloomy  forests  where  the  ground 
is  never  dry,  of  billowing  sandy  deserts,  of  grassy 
upland  plains,  of  disappearing  rivers  and  vanishing 
lakes,  of  active  volcanoes  and  icy  pinnacles,  will  re- 
main as  alluring  and  inscrutable  as  ever.  I  remember 
one  of  my  boys,  Marengo,  saying,  with  no  query  in 
his  tone,  when  we  parted  : 

"  B'wana,  u  tarudi  hapa,  ne  taona  uwe."  ("  Master, 
you  will  come  here  again.      I  will  see  you.") 

Perhaps  he  spoke  the  truth.  Many  time  when  feel- 
ing the  oppression  and  depression  of  brick-and-mortar 
walls,  the  gloom  of  the  narrow  streets  and  the  deaf- 
ening roar  of  traffic,  I  have  longed  for  the  open  spaces. 
1  call  back  to  my  mind's  eye  just  one  spot  to  which,  were 
I  Aladdin,  I  would  go  this  instant.     It  is  to  the  Valley 


RETROSPECT  263 

of  the  Twin  Peaks  up  towards  the  Uasliii  Neru.  The 
grass  is  green  from  the  recent  rains  ;  it  slopes  gently 
down  to  the  river  bank  ;  thorn  trees,  wliose  brandies 
stretch  out  so  evenly  that  from  a  distance  they  look 
like  great  green  mushrooms,  rise  to  the  right  ;  along 
the  river  bank  flourishes  the  great  Dom  jialms  At 
the  end  of  the  valley  one  sees  the  peaks,  so  exactly 
alike  in  their  contour  that  it  appears  that  they  were 
made  from  the  same  mould.  They  look  to  be  only 
some  six  or  eight  miles  off,  but  they  are  nearer  forty, 
so  clear  is  the  air.  Quite  near  stands  a  female  giraffe 
with  her  little  one;  he  is  frolicking  about,  kicking  his 
long  ungainly  legs  like  a  colt  in  the  pasture.  A  troop 
of  oryx  is  coming  down  the  valley  headed  for  the 
water  ;  with  their  long  horns  gleaming  in  the  sunlight, 
they  look  like  a  squadron  of  cavalry  with  drawn  sabres. 
A  herd  of  zebra  stands  about  under  the  thorn  trees, 
and  by  himself,  firm  on  his  short  stumpy  legs,  is  an 
old  rhino  fast  asleep  ;  he  has  not  moved  for  an  hour. 
The  tick  birds  running  up  and  down  his  sides  do  not 
seem  to  disturb  him  in  the  least. 

Walk  down  into  the  valley.  The  animals  will  not 
run  from  you.  For  a  wager,  if  you  studied  the  wind 
and  used  great  caution,  you  could  go  up  to  that  sleep- 
ing survival  of  things  that  lived  l:)elore  the  Flood  and 
slap  him  with  your  hat.  I  wouldn't  advise  you  to  try 
to  hang  it  on  the  top  of  his  ugly-looking  horn  ;  in 
fact,  I  wouldn't  advise  you  even  to  slap  him  but  you 
could.  Pd  like  to  see  this  place  and  this  sight  again. 
Pd     like    to     have    once     more     the     experience    that 


264        THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

I  had  one  morning  down  near  the  Tana  river: 
There  was  a  herd  of  kongoni,  a  few  wildebeeste  and 
zebra  among  them  and  some  Httle  Thomson's  gazelles. 
I  tried  an  experiment.  Where  game  has  not  been 
shot  at  they  seem  by  some  peculiar  divination  to  know 
whether  your  errand  is  a  bloodthirsty  or  a  peaceful 
one.  If  you  walk  steadily  on,  paying  no  attention  to 
them,  they  will  lift  their  heads,  look  at  you,  and  go 
on  with  their  feeding.  Stop  an  instant  and  they  be- 
come suspicious.  I  walked  towards  that  herd  of  mixed 
game  slantingly,  so  to  speak,  never  facing  them  directly, 
never  turning  my  head,  only  watching  them  sideways. 

I  do  not  know  whether  any  hunter  or  sportsman 
had  this  experience  before,  but  I  actually  got  amongst 
them ;  suiting  my  pace  to  theirs,  I  drifted  along  with 
some  of  the  animals  not  more  than  thirty  or  forty 
yards  away — not  one  started  to  run.  I  longed  for 
a  camera,  but  I  am  afraid  that  if  I  had  made  any 
unnatural  movements  they  would  have  been  off.  Two 
or  three  days  after,  in  just  the  same  country,  it  was 
necessary  to  shoot  to  get  some  meat  for  the  camp.  I 
could  not  get  within  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of 
anything  that  possessed  horns  or  hoofs  ;  they  seemed 
to  know  my  intention.  Most  of  the  gazelles  and  ante- 
lopes are  capable  of  being  tamed  or  domesticated. 
The  eland,  the  largest  of  the  antelope,  has  been  broken 
to  harness.  I  was  told  that  there  was  a  white  settler 
who  had  two  that  would  draw  a  light  plough. 

Near  the  hill  of  Donaysapuk,  at  the  edge  of  the 
Athi  Plains,  there  is  a  small  herd  of  roan  antelope  that 


F 


i 


ORYX    AND    IMPALLA    SEARCHING     FOR     WATER 


32 


A     HERD    OK    ORYX     WITH    SOME     RECORD     HEADS 


RETROSPECT  265 

have  been  thoroii^jjlily  protected,  and  rdthoii^li  there 
has  been  nuieh  shooting  in  the  neiu^hboiii  hood  and 
they  are  naturally  among  the  most  timid  ol  animals — 
they  seem  to  know  that  they  are  exemjn,  (or,  appar- 
ently, they  have  little  fear  of  man.  1  ha\e  never 
heard  of  any  attempt  in  Africa  to  domesticate  the 
buffalo,  but  I  remember  at  Kampala  there  was  a 
young  cow  buffalo  that  ha.l  joined  a  herd  of  cattle 
and  went  into  the  kraal  with  them  at  night.  That 
nothing  practical  can  be  maJe  of  the  zebra  is  most 
strange  ;  they  are  immme  from  the  fiy  and  from 
many  diseases  that  inflict  both  mules  and  horses,  and 
although  they  scamper  and  run  in  the  roughest  and 
most  stony  places,  seldom  is  one  found  whose  hoofs 
are  not  in  the  finest  condition.  Ihey  have  been 
trained  both  to  harness  and  saddle,  but  they  break 
down  very  easily  and  have  no  spirit,  so,  at  least,  I 
was  told  by  a  man  who  made  the  experiment.  The 
time  when  I  longed  for  a  camera  was  paralleled 
by  one  case  where  I  did  not  have  my  rille  ;  my  gun- 
bearer  was  with  me  with  only  a  shot  gun.  There 
were  some  guinea-fowl  in  the  bushes  near  camp  ;  I 
was  gunning  for  the  evening  meal.  We  had  not 
gone  far;  in  fact,  we  were  close  enough  to  heai-  the 
voices  of  the  boys  who  were  bringing  in  firewood. 
Suddenly  I  looked  up  astonished  ;  there  about  sixty 
yards  oft  stood  that  most  desired  of  all  trophies — a 
fine  male  koodoo,  the  tips  of  his  spiral  horns  shining 
like  ivory.  From  force  of  habit  John  thrust  the  shot 
gun    into    my    hands  ;     he    might    as    well    have    given 


266         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

me  a  pea-shooter.  That  magnificent  head  fascinated 
me.  I  coufd  not  take  my  eyes  oflf  it.  For  fully 
twenty  seconds  that  koodoo  and  I  stood  looking  at 
each  other,  then  with  a  snort  and  a  bound  he  was 
ofT,  and  I  never  saw  him  or  his  like  again.  It  is 
one  of  the  chance  encounters  in  which  "  the  land 
of  footprints"   abounds! 

I  was  told  a  story  while  in  Nairobi,  of  a  lady 
walking  down  to  the  gate  of  her  garden  in  the 
evening  and  seeing  what  she  thought  to  be  her  hus- 
band's big  setter  dog  lying  in  the  flower  bed.  She 
stopped  and  whistled  to  him,  and  suddenly  to  her 
astonishment  a  large  leopard  took  the  place  of  the 
supposed  dog  and  stood  there  watching  her,  not  ten 
feet  away.  She  said  it  seemed  to  be  hours  that  they 
stood  there,  then  the  leopard  turned  and  in  a  bound 
cleared  the  hedge.  The  lady  walked  into  the  kitchen, 
locked  the  door,  and  then  does  not  remember  any- 
thing until  she  came  to,  with  her  back  against  the 
kitchen  range,  which  fortunately  had  no  lire  in  it.  That 
very  night  the  child  of  one  of  the  negro  servants  of 
a  neighbour  was  taken.  Whether  this  is  the  same 
leopard  that  became  so  celebrated  that  the  govern- 
ment and  the  settlers  finally  offered  the  prize  of  one 
hundred  pounds  for  him,  "taken  dead  or  alive,"  could 
not  be  stated,  but  the  story  of  this  last- mentioned 
beast  is  a  most  remarkable  one,  and  it  was  told  to  me 
by  the  man  who  finally  got  him,  and  as  the  Photo- 
grapher properly  comes  in,   too,   I  will  tell  it  here. 

Mr.  Harris,  the  manager  of  the  Kamiti  estate,   had 


COMMON  ZEBRA 


ORYX  AWU  ZkCKA  i.TAMi'l.-.Di:;U 


RETROSPECT  267 

invited  Kearton  to  pay  him  a  visit  ;  the  quarters 
assigned  liiin  were  a  Httle  separate  house  or  cabin  of 
one  room.  It  was  one  of  a  large  number  of  out- 
buildings surrounding  a  larger  dwelling.  During  the 
evening  Harris  had  told  of  the  depredations  of  a  very 
large  leopard  that  had  taken  no  fewer  than  eight  of 
the  best  imported  English  hogs  out  of  a  pen  with  a 
fence  twelve  feet  high,  over  which  it  had  managed  to 
scramble  and  haul  its  heavy  booty.  The  native  vil- 
lages in  the  immediate  vicinity  had  lost  twenty-six 
children  taken  presumably  by  this  same  beast.  He 
was  absolutely  fearless,  and  although  he  had  exposed 
himself  in  a  reckless  way,  he  had  never  been  shot  at. 
He  seemed  by  instinct  to  avoid  all  the  traps  that  had 
been  set  for  him,  and  he  always  succeeded  in  getting 
ofi  with  the  bait.  For  over  a  year  that  leopard  had 
terrorised  the  neighbourhood.  One  day  he  had  been 
tracked  and  held  up  by  a  pack  of  ten  large  dogs  ;  out 
of  the  lot  but  three  escaped,  the  rest  were  killed  or 
had  to  be  shot  on  account  of  the  severity  of  their 
wounds.  Kearton  had  reached  his  little  house  that 
evening  and  was  just  entering  when  in  the  light 
coming  from  the  window  he  saw  the  leopard.  He 
was  inside  the  door  and  closed  it  behind  him  before 
he  knew  how  he  got  there.  The  leopard  sprang  to 
the  tin  roof  and  was  on  it  for  a  good  part  of  the 
night,  evidently  watching  the  door.  A  few  days  later 
he  performed  his  most  astonishing  bit  of  iminidence. 
Mr.  Harris  and  Mr.  Heatley  and  two  other  gentlemen 
were  drinking  tea  on    the    veranda   of    the    big    house. 


268         THROUGH   CENTRAL   AFRICA 

A  fox-terrier  lay  asleep  under  the  table.  It  was  not 
dark,  only  approaching  dusk.  Suddenly  the  fox-terrier 
gave  a  growl.  The  gentlemen  looked  up  just  in  time 
to  see,  only  a  few  yards  off,  the  form  of  the  big 
leopard  coming  like  an  arrow  shot  out  of  a  bow  ;  he 
took  the  dog  from  under  the  table,  jumped  almost 
across  one  of  the  men  who  were  sitting  in  the  chairs, 
and  disappeared  in  the  shrubbery.  In  telling  this  part 
of  the  story  Harris  remarked,  "There  are  four  wit- 
nesses to  that;    I'd  hardly  dare  to  go  it  alone." 

Poor  Fritz  Schindler,  who  was  fatally  mauled  by  a 
lion  a  year  or  so  ago,  had  an  adventure  with  this  same 
leopard.  Three  children  had  been  taken  in  one  week 
from  a  little  cluster  of  a  dozen  or  so  huts.  The  animal 
would  come  right  through  the  wall  of  one  of  these 
flimsy  dwellings,  pick  up  a  child  and  go  off.  He 
generally  seemed  to  choose  those  that  were  under  eight 
years.  Schindler  moved  out  in  order  to  try  and  get 
him;  he  knew  the  headman  and  was  quite  a  friend  of 
his.  Of  course,  fires  were  kept  burning  all  night; 
the  leopard  did  not  seem  to  mind  them  in  the  least. 
Although  he  intended  to  keep  awake,  Fritz  must  have 
fallen  asleep  ;  he  was  awakened  by  a  great  outcry. 
The  headman,  with  a  couple  of  distracted  women, 
rushed  into  the  hut  that  Fritz  was  occupying.  The 
leopard  had  taken  another,  a  little  child  of  three,  and 
the  son  of  the  headman  himself!  Fritz  got  his  rifle, 
and  with  men  and  torches  and  spears,  went  down 
to  where  the  leopard  had  jumped  over  a  low  wall  and 
had  entered  the  bushes.     They  could  hear  the  child's 


RETROSPECT  269 

cries  very  plainly.     He    evidently  was    not   badlv   liint, 
and  the  leopard  was  carryin^j  him  in   his  mouth. 

It  was  a  very  dark  night  and  the  hush  very  thick. 
Half  a  dozen  times  the  leopard  with  the  shriek ingj 
infant  allowed  them  to  come  within  a  dozen  yards  ot 
him  before  he  moved  on,  hut  he  never  put  the  child 
down.  At  last  the  child's  cries  ceased,  and  they  had 
no  way  of  locating  the  animal  at  all.  Daylight  came 
and  they  found  one  of  the  poor  little  victim's  hands  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  road — a  very  well  travelled  high- 
way. The  leopard  had  simply  walked  round  the  village 
and  had  never  gone  more  than  a  hundred  yards  away. 
The  reward  the  government  had  offered  was  now  in- 
creased by  private  persons  to  the  amount  of  a  hundred 
pounds.  Traps  had  been  set  all  over  the  place,  some- 
times they  were  found  sprung  with  nothing  in  them. 
Harris  had  built  a  very  strong  box  trap  which  he  had 
lined  with  sheet  iron  ;  it  had  an  iron  door  that  dropped 
down  behind  any  beast  that  entered.  The  bait  at  the 
end  of  the  long  box  was  a  young  pig.  What  was 
Harris's  joy  to  find  that  the  very  first  night  he  had 
made  his  capture — the  leopard  was  inside.  Contrary 
to  expectation  it  was  not  very  old,  but  was  in  the 
prime  of  condition,  and  very  large  and  heavy.  I  be- 
lieve his  skin  was  afterwards  mounted  by  Mr.  Rowland 
Ward,  of  London.  At  this  point  in  his  story  Mr. 
Harris  observed,  "1  know  what  you  are  going  to  ask 
me.  'Did  I  get  the  reward?'  I  did  not.  They  said 
I'd  have  to  prove  that  this  was  the  leopard  that  took 
all   the  children,  which  was  a   hard   thing   to  do.      But 


270        THROUGH  CENTRAL  AFRICA 

whether  it  was  the  villain  himself  or  not,  the  killings 
all  stopped,  and  there  have  been  no  man-eaters  since 
in  this  neighbourhood." 

When  one  takes  into  account  that  human  prey 
is  the  easiest  that  a  lion  or  a  leopard  can  take,  it 
is  wonderful  that  there  are  not  more  man-eaters  or 
children-eaters,  for  the  trails  between  the  villages  are 
filled  with  perfectly  helpless  and  unarmed  people  all 
day  long.  Up  in  the  Samburra  country,  where  the 
lions  were  plentiful,  we  have  seen  flocks  and  herds 
tended  by  women  and  many  children  apparently  un- 
afraid. But  once  let  a  lion  or  lioness  or  leopard 
taste  human  flesh  and  it  becomes  a  confirmed  killer; 
and  if  it  is  old  and  its  teeth  worn  it  will  touch 
nothing  else.  The  same  is  told  of  the  Indian  tiger 
and  the  jaguar  of  South  America.  They  generally 
fall  to  the  experienced  hunter's  rifle,  for  they  cease 
their  roaming  and  confine  their  crimes  to  one  neigh- 
bourhood. 

Although  both  lion  and  leopard  are  less  often  met 
with,  and  undoubtedly  more  have  been  killed  in 
British  East  Africa  in  the  last  five  years  than  have 
been  killed  in  all  the  years  before,  it  will  be  a  long 
time  before  they  disappear  completely,  unless  poisoning 
is  resorted  to  on  the  game  reserves.  Still,  Africa 
would  not  be  the  same  if  it  were  not  for  the  thrill 
one  gets  at  night  when  lying  in  one's  tent  or  seated 
round  a  roaring  camp  fire,  when  the  stillness  is 
broken  and  out  of  the  dark  comes  that  magnificent 
voice    shouting    its     challenge    to    the    world.      The 


RETROSPECT  271 

hyena's  wailing  howl,  weird  and  discordant,  coin^eys 
no  thrill  ;  the  grunt  of  a  hunting  leopard  holds  some 
threat  of  danger,  but  only  the  lion  can  stir  the  pulses. 
The  shout  of  "Siniba!  Siinha!"  to  the  hunter  is  the 
most  exciting  call.  I  would  hate  to  go  hack  to  the 
hunting  grounds  were  the  lion  left  out  of  the  reckon- 
ing. It  would  not  be  the  same  land  at  all,  e\en 
though  my  adventures  with  him  hav^e  been  few  and 
far  between. 

Oh,  the  sensation  of  that  leg-weariness  ;  that  cer- 
tainty of  almost  dreamless  sleep.  After  a  hard  day 
through  the  forest,  I  remember  looking  across  the 
river  at  a  new  clearing  and  the  house  where  we  were 
going  to  rest  for  the  night.  We  had  gone  through  a 
drenching  rain,  and  as  we  came  to  the  river  bank  the 
sun  had  come  through  the  clouds ;  those  thatched 
huts  looked  like  palaces.  Our  one  idea  of  happiness 
was  to  be  dry  and  warm  and  under  cover.  Every  day 
was  a  voyage  ;   every  resting-place  was  a  harbour  made. 

Do  not  interlard  a  book  of  travel  with  too  much 
advice  is  a  good  motto  for  the  sportsman  or  photo- 
grapher who  "takes  pen  in  hand";  yet  one  could 
not  have  covered  so  many  miles  in  so  many  months, 
as  did  the  Photographer  and  the  Scribe,  without 
picking  up  a  little  knowledge  that  might  be  useful. 
There  are  some  do's  and  some  dont's  that  might  well 
fit  in  the  last  words  of  the  chapter  of  a  retrospect ; 
somehow,  most  naturally,  dont's  come  first,  for  that  is 
the  way  advice  is  generally  given.  And  lirst  and 
foremost  1  would  say,  don't  try  to  do  it  on  the  cheap. 


272         THROUGH  CENTRAL   AFRICA 

One  need  not  go  in  so  luxurious  a  fashion  that  is 
will  discount  that  of  civilisation,  but  don't  try  to 
rough  it  in  the  way  one  can  on  the  western  plains 
or  in  the  woods  of  Canada.  It  cannot  be  done  in 
Africa.  For  a  white  man,  it  is  necessary  to  live  as 
much  of  a  white  man's  normal  life  as  possible.  He 
must  keep  dry,  warm,  clean,  and  well  fed.  He  must 
be  protected  from  that  fierce  equatorial  sun  in  the 
v/ay  that  is  not  necessary  on  the  plains  of  Arizona  or 
Texas.  He  cannot  expose  himself  recklessly  in  any 
way  and  expect  to  live.  So  don't  ever  be  without  a 
good  supply  of  tinned  things  if  you  can  get  them,  of 
good  wheat  flour,  condensed  milk  and  butter,  jams, 
dried  fruit  and  sauces.  Don't  buy  a  second-hand  tent 
unless  you  have  had  it  passed  by  an  expert.  Don't 
fail  to  wear  an  abdominal  belt,  and  in  the  open 
country  if  you  are  to  be  out  between  ten  in  the 
morning  and  four  in  the  afternoon,  never  leave  your 
red  flannel  spine  pad  behind.  The  sun's  rays  have  a 
bad  effect  on  the  white  man's  marrow.  Get  the  best 
and  most  expensive  pith  helmet,  and  see  that  it  is 
lined  with  red  also.  Don't  try  to  shoot  in  a  Stetson 
or  a  wideawake  ;  you'll  come  to  grief  some  day  and 
end  in  the  hospital.  Don't  fail  to  take  a  warm  bath 
(never  take  a  cold  one  if  you  can  help  it)  as  soon 
as  you  come  in  from  your  day's  work.  Change  all 
your  clothes,  and  have  your  boy  examine  your  feet — 
it  is  part  of  a  good  boy's  business — for  you  may 
harbour  a  chigger  for  several  days  without  knowing 
it,   until    the    sudden    consequences    are    painful    if   not 


RETROSPECT  273 

disastrous.  These  arc  little  parasites  that  work  in  from 
the  ground  even  through  the  hoots,  and  hurrow  under 
the  nails.  Don't,  when  you  are  in  the  lly  and  niosciiiito 
country,  fail  to  sleep  under  the  net  at  night.  Don't 
fail  to  have  3'our  drinking  water  hoiled,  and,  if  i)os- 
sible,  filtered.  Don't  let  your  cook  have  the  run  of 
the  chop  boxes;  deal  out  to  him,  yourself,  what  is 
necessary  for  his  kitchen.  Don't  drink  too  much  tea 
or  coffee,  and  of  strong  liquors,  little,  if  any,  and  never 
before  sundown.  Go  to  bed  early  and  sleep  warm. 
The  boys  will  see  to  it  that  you  are  up  with  the  siui, 
and  one  requires  a  lot  of  sleep  on  the  Equator.  If 
you  adhere  to  these  rules  you  will  keep  well,  anti 
probably  not  need  even  those  simple  remedies  which, 
of  course,  you  can  buy  all  neatly  packed  in  a  tropical 
medicine  chest. 

And  now  for  a  few  "(/o's."  If  you  are  shooting  get 
as  close  as  you  can,  so  that  there  will  be  little  excuse  for 
not  putting  down  your  game.  More  animals  are  maimed 
and  wounded  in  three  months  by  people  taking  long 
and  risky  shots  than  are  killed  clean  and  outright  in  a 
year.  Besides  in  these  long  shots,  a  few  of  which  (julv 
come  off,  the  fun  of  stalking  is  lost.  In  Africa  any 
stumbhng  blockhead  can  get  within  five  or  six  hundred 
yards  of  game,  even  in  a  well-shot  country.  It  takes 
a  hunter  and  a  sportsman  to  get  within  a  hundred  and 
thirty,  and  if  you  can  get  closer,  do  so. 

As  to  a  battery,  you  want  one  good  repeating  rille, 
one  express,  and  a  shot  gun.  I,  myself,  used  a  Ross 
rifle  and  found  it  the   best  weapon  I've  ever  put  to  my 


274        THROUGH   CENTRAL  AFRICA 

shoulder.  Its  flat  trajectory  and  hard-hitting  power 
make  it  absolutely  deadly  on  all  game  but  elephants, 
rhino  and  hippo.  With  a  new  sporting  bullet  it  will 
stop  any  lion  or  put  down  even  the  largest  of  the 
antelopes  to  a  surety.  The  450  Express  will  knock 
down  anything.  There  is  no  necessity  for  carrying  any 
heavier  calibre.  I  carried  also  a  Mannlicher  carbine 
for  smill  game.  But  there  are  so  many  good  rifles  in 
the  market  that  it  is  a  matter  of  taste.  Ammunition  of 
all  kinds  and  character  can  be  purchased  at  Nairobi. 

Take  a  good  camera  with  you  and  learn  how  to 
use  it,  it  is  more  productive  of  pleasure  in  after  years 
than  anything  else.  With  regard  to  cameras,  they, 
too,  like  rifles,  are  a  great  deal  a  matter  of  taste.  A 
good  lens  is,  of  course,  a  sine  qua  non.  If  moving 
pictures  are  the  objective,  one  thing  is  necessary,  that 
is  to  take  plenty  of  film,  for  it  is  impossible  to  get 
it  out  there. 

In  picking  a  gun-bearer  get  one  who  has  gone 
out  with  a  real  sportsman  and  not  the  average  armed 
tourist.  Impress  upon  him  exactly  what  you  want 
him  to  do  and  have  done,  and  keep  him  up  to  the 
mark.  Don't  fail  to  get  a  good  fundi  or  skinner; 
many  trophies  are  lost  through  careless  work.  So  far 
as  the  safari  goes  try  to  get  interested  in  your  men 
and  get  them  interested  in  you.  Things  will  work 
twice  as  easy.  In  choosing  a  headman  find  somebody 
with  whom  he  has  served,  if  it  is  possible,  and  dis- 
cuss his  points.  In  taking  a  white  hunter,  if  you 
have   to   take    one,    ask   all    the    questions    about    him 


RETROSPECT  275 

that  5-^011  can,  and  see  as  nuicli  as  you  can  of  liiin 
yourself  before  you  start.  No  matter  what  liappcns, 
keep  your  temper  in  Africa.  Somebody  lias  spoken 
of  the  country  as  "the  grave  of  reputations";  there 
is  not  the  least  doubt  of  it.  Many  have  failed  here  who 
have  succeeded  elsewhere.  But  it  is  a  mausoleum  of 
sweet  dispositions. 

In  all  this  I  am  speaking  of  ihc  high  jilateaus,  of 
the  country  of  grass  and  hill  and  sunshine,  and  of 
this  I  have  only  one  more  thing  to  say.  Go  there  if 
you  get  the  chance;  you'll  never  regret  it.  From  the 
country  of  the  sickness,  of  the  fly,  of  the  dirt  and 
disease,  of  the  dank  solitudes,  choking  downpours  and 
starvation  keep  away.  As  the  Scribe  remarked  in  the 
preface,  and  the  Photographer  will  back  him  up,  ''We 
are  very  glad  we  went,  but  there  are  certain  portions 
of  the  journey  that  we  would  not  care  to  do  again." 


INDEX 


ABADARES.    IO,    II 

Acacia,  46,   103 
Adder,  puff,    174 

Africa,  British  East,  youth  of,  72 
Central,   climatic  effects  on  health, 
138;    forests  of,   127;    paucity  of 
food  supplies  in,    106  ;    "  sleeping 
sickness  "  in,  209  ;   tribes  of,  suffer 
havoc,   169 
East,  black  rhinoceros  of,  71  ;    lions 
scarce  in,  68  ;    wild  beast  scour L;e 
in,  66 
hints  to  travellers  in,  271-5 
nationalities  in,  253 
Portuguese  West,  native  revolt  in,245 
South,  and  civilisation,  56 
the  land  of  maladies,  55 
Albert  Edward  Nyanza,    104,  257 
Albert  Nyanza,  256,  257 
Albino,  233,  234 
Amoma,   175 

Animal  life,  changes  in,   15 
Animals,  curiosity  and  caution  in  wild, 
24 
drinking  habits  of  wild,  27 
water-holes  of,  26,  27 
wild,  methods  of  killing,  66 
Ant,   107,   109,   173 
Antelope,  almost  extinct,   56 
cob,   103 

protected  herd  of,  264 
roan,  65 
Anversville,  the,  243,   248 
Arab  influence  in  Africa,  82,  169 
Arabs,  Stanley's  troubles  with  Zanzi 
bar,  256 

33  ^77 


Archer's  Post,   16 

Aruwimi,  The,  170,  196,  igS,  209,  212, 

221,  256 
Athi  Plains,  264 

River,  65 
Avakubi,  176,   178,  182,  187,  189,  190, 
191.   193 


Babira,  128 

Baboon,   15,   25,   27,   38 

Baboons,  elephant  warned  by,  28 

habits  of,   29  et  seq. 
Bagualipa,   197 
Bahema,    125,    126 
Bambamga,   204 
Banalia,   198,  209,  210,  211 
Banana,   133,   176,  249 
Bangala,  256 
Baobab,   247 

Barttelot,  Major  E-  M.,  210,  256,  257 
Barumba,    197,  221 
Barunda,  217 
Basoko,  xviii,  170,  187,   192,   197,  212, 

216,  218 
Bassobanzi,    193 
Batwa,  22 
Bebengo,   204 
Bee,  African,  60,   146 

-eater,   173 

honey-,   174 
Beetles,    173 

camp  infested  by,  26 
Belgian  Government,   57 
Bengamisa,   198,   211 
Boga,    1 1 1 
Boma,   245,  247 


278 


INDEX 


Bomtli,   190,  IQ2,  196,  197,  198,  200 
Bonny,  William,   257 
Boyes,  Mr.  John,   59,  60 
British    East    Africa    and    civilisation 
56 

and  self-government,   73 

lion  and  leopard  in,   270 
British  East  African  Company,   258 
Buffalo,    21,    51,    59,    61,   65,   71,    103, 
224 

forest,   177 

non-domestication  of,  264-5 

rinderpest  causes  mortality  among, 

55 

spoor  of,   16 
Bufuaiabo,  204 
Buganda,  79,  83,  93 
Bumbua,  207 
Burchall's  zebra,    15 
Bushbuck,  9 
Bushman,   22 
Bustard,  greater,  9 

lesser,  9 
Butterflies,    173,   174 


Cacagua,  95 

Campi  na  Bulongo,   178 

Campi  na  Mambuti,   177,   178 

Camwood,   177 

Cannibalism,   128,   156 

Cedar,  51 

Centipedes,   173 

Chanler  Falls,   19 

Chapin,  Mr.,   188,    189,   191 

Cheetah,  9 

Chimpanzee,   247 

Christy,  Dr.,    181.   188 

Cicatrisation,   127,  200 

Civilisation,  rhinoceros  the  enemy  of, 

the  ages  and,  73 
Claydon,  Mr.,   17,   18,  45 
Clement  Hill,  the,  81 
Coffee,   56,  84 
Coke's  hartebeeste,  9 


Congo  Beige,  128,  149;  atrocities  in 
the,  246;  condition  of,  212;  nation- 
alities represented  in,  252;  passing 
of,  261-2;  quarantine  regulations 
on  frontier  of,  115;  sleeping  sick- 
ness in,  213,  246 
Free  State,   253;    Stanley    on,   258; 

Stanley  in,   256 
Oriental  Company,    138,    139 
River,    170,  216,  218,   221,   232,  235, 
251,  252,  255,   256 

Convolvuli,    175 

Cook,   the  brothers,   88,  93 

Cooks'  sanatorium  and  hospital,  94 

Coot,  99 

Copal,   177 

Cormorant,  99 

Cotton,  84 

Crane,  crested,    104 

Crocodile,   104,   105,   173,  232 


Dabchick,  99 

Dakar,   249 

Dance,  native,  91,   169,   170 

Daudi,     Kabaka    of     Uganda,     88    et 

seq. 
Deakes,  Mr.,  94 

Delporte,  M.,    138,   139,   141,    167 
Diamonds,   246 
Dik-dik,  20,  21 
Ditty  bag,   53 
Diver,  232 
Djapanda,    178 
Dogs,  lions  killed  by,  66 
Donaysapuk,  65,  70,   264 
Dove,  41 
Drum    message,    20i,    202,    214,    215, 

217 
Duck,   173 

B 

EAGtE,  99 
fi.sh,   173 
Ebony,   177 
Edward  Nyanza,  Lake,   104 


INDEX 


279 


Eland,  15,  65 

broken  to  harness,  264 
Elephant,  xvii,   10,  21,  25,  26,  27,  95, 
97,  98,  105,  106.  107,  108,  III,  122, 
123.  138,  148,   149,  152,  158,  159, 
164,   177 
drinking  habits  of  the,  27 
Eniin  Pasha,   137,  254,  255,  256,   257, 

258 
Endesis,   177,   196 
Enge,  M.,  218 
Entebbe,  81,  82.  85,  86,  87 
Epulu,  River,   178 
Equatoria,  217,  224 
Etito  River,   178 
Euphorbia,  46,  103 


Fai,con,  42 

Fern,  tree,   177 

Finch,   173 

Flamingoes,   10 

Forest,     African,     133     et    seq.,     174. 

258 
Fort  Bodo,  257 

Hall,  3 

Portal,  95 
Fourminiere  Company,   131,   180 
French  Government,   57 
Fundi  Kitima,   178 
Fungi,   175 


Gazelle,  15,  21,  27.  56,  65 

almost  extinct,   56 

tameability  of,  264 

Thomson's,  263 
Geese,   10,  42,  99 

Egyptian,  10 
George,  Lake,  97 
Gerenuk,   20,  21,  27 
Gil-Gil,  3.  7 
Giraffe,  15,  16,  21,  27,  37,  263 

drinking  habits  of  the,  27 
Glave,  Mr.  E.  J..  223,  224,  225.  226, 
230.  237,  240,  241 


Gold,   246 

Gohl  Coast,   236 

Goose,    1 7  3 

Gordon,  Mr.  Cyril,  94 

Granti,  9 

Great  Divide,  80 

Grebe,  99,   232 

Grt'vy  zebra,   i;;,  21,  25,  27,   32 

drinking  habits  of  the,   32 
Grouse  sand,  41 
Guinea  fowl,   horned,  41 
Gurliug,  Dr.,  230 

H 

Harris,  Mr.,  and  man-eating  leopard, 

266,   269 
Hartebeeste,  65 

Coke's,  9 

Jackson's,  9 
Haut  Ituri,   The,   103,  128,    129,    138, 

148,   187 
Hawk,  41 
Heatley,  Mr.,  267 
Heron,   10,   104,   173 

the  cow,  63,  64 
Hide-ups,  and  animals,  25 
Hippopotamus,    10,  99,   183,  23a 
Honey  bee,    174 
Hornbill,  99,   173,  225 
Hornet,   174 

Horses,  scarcity  of,  in  Uganda,   84 
Hunting  and  fatality,  65 

civili.sation  and,   56 

the  opportunity  in,  24 
Hurricane,   African,   119  ei  seq. 
Hyena,  9,  15.  46,  47.  52.  270 


Ibis,  173 

Impalla,  20,  21,  27,  32,  35,  36 

drinking  habits  of,  32 

lion  ignored  by,  36 
"  In  Darkest  Africa,"  xvii.  7,   254 
"  In  the  Heart  of  Africa,"  by  the  Duke 
of  Mecklenburg,  258 


28o 


INDEX 


Insect  life  of  African  forest,    174 
Irumu,   loi,   104,    105,   III,   124,   128, 

129,     130,     131,     138,     179,     180, 

229 
Iruwimi,  The,  183 
Ituri,  The,  127, 137,  151,  183,  185,  193  <j^ 

seq.,   198,   209,   257 
Ivory,  28,  139,   140,   169 


Jackai,,  27,  47,  67 

lion   "  kill  "   attracts,  47 
vultures  beaten  off  by,  47 
Jackson,  vSir  Frederick,  85 
Jackson's  hartebeeste,  9 
Jameson,  Mr.  J.  S.,  256,  257 

Jay,  173 
Jinja,  87 


K 

Kabaka  of  Uganda,  88  et  seq. 

Kampala,  85,  87,  91,  95,  264 

Kaparata,  211 

Kavirondos,  3,   125 

Kehara,  95,  96 

Kenia,  Mount,  3,   10,  46,   50,   250 

Kifiku,   132,    138,   139,    152,    164,   165, 

167,    169,    174,    178,    181 
Kikuyus,  3,   55,  78 
"  Kikuyus,    the   White  King  of  the," 

60 
Killonga-Llonga,   189 
Kilo,   128,   131 
Kingfisher,  99 
Kingombe,    178 
King's  African  Rifles,  encounter  with, 

18 
Kinshassa,  211,  234,  235,  236 
Kite,   173 
Knowles,  Mr.,  95 
Komassi,  81 

Kongoni,  8,   10,   15,  68,  263 
Koodoo,  265 
Kumiti  swamp,  59,  61 


La  Reine  Elizabeth,  221 
Labour,  natives  and,  73 
Lake  Albert  Edward,   104 

Edward  Nyanza,   104 

George,  97 

Ivlonga-llonga,  98 

Navassha,   19,  81 

Olgolositt,    10 

Victoria  Nyanza,  yz 
Lakini,  214 
Lange,  M.,    188,   189 
Larch,   5 1 
Lava  stone,  80 
Leo  Africanus,   33 
Leopard,   xvii,   21,  66 

man-eating,  266-9 
Leopold  II.,   254,   256 
Leopold ville,   235 
Lichens,    175 
Lignum  vitie,   177 

Lion,  13,  15,  21,  33,  34,  35,  36,  38,  46, 
47,  49,  50,  65,  66,  68,  80 

Impalla  ignore,   36 

"  kill  "  of  a,  46 
man-eating,   270 
Lions,  Government  limits  slaying  of,  68 

habits  of,   34,   35 
Livingstone,   228 
Lizards,  camp  infested  by,  26 
Llonga-llonga,  Lake,  98 
Lorian  Swamp,   19,  42 
Loya  River,   143,   149 
Lukellia,  223,   224,   226,  227 
Lunae  Montes,   100 

Lydford,  Mr.  S.  H.,  2,  6,  19.  22,  29,  33, 
35,  38,  40,  43,  48,  50 

M 

McBride,  Mr.,  247 
Mackie,  Mr.  A.  M.,  94 
Mackinnon,  Sir  William,  255 
Magadi  Soda  Lake,  58 
Mahogany,   177 
Makoko,   178 
Mallard,   10,  99 


INDEX 


281 


Malwa,  156 

Mamakitpi,    149,   ii;t,   152 

Mana  Tela,   17S 

Man-eating  leopards,  266-70 

Mangnema,   169,   177 

Marabout,  42,  68 

Marke,  Mr.  Van,   131 

Marsabit,    16 

Masai,   13,  66 

Masindi,  95,  96,   loi 

Matadi,  226,  228,   234,  235,  236,   240, 

243.  251 
Man  escarpment,  80 
Mawambi,   176,   i'86 
M'bendi,  95 
M'buti  (see  Pygmies) 
Mecklenburg,  Duke  of,   258 
Mentoni,   148,   152,   154 
Mission  work,  82 
Moblatili,   185 

Mohammedanism,   53,  82,  88,   169 
Mombasa,   i,  238,  255 
Mongwana,   157,   160,   161,     162,     163, 

164,   165,   169,   189 
Monkey,   173 

long-tailed,   15 
Moss,   175 

Mountains  of  the  Moon,  100,  257 
M'tesa,  88 
Mupele,  204 
Mushrooms,   175 
M'wanga,  88 

N 

Nairobi,  i,  46,  54,  57,  59,  65,  66,  72, 
188 

leopards  at,   266 
Natives,  bird  snaring  by,  41 

cannibalism  among,   128,   156 

characteristics  of,  75  et  seq.,  155 

cicatrisation  among,   127,  20c 

cooking  of,   126 

country  forbidden  to,  81 

dance  of,   169,   170 

death  and,   53 

disfigurement  of,   126 


Natives,  dress  of,   125 

"drum    telegraphy"    of,   201,    202, 
214,  215,  217 

dwellings  of,  214 

face  ornaments  worn  by,   133 

fatalism  of,  231 

labour  and,  73 

Mohammedanism  among,   53 

poor  living  of,  near    Irumu,   105 

race  suicide  and,   155 

rubber  industry  and,  212 

slave-raiders  and,   212 

sleeping-sickness  and,  213,  231.  232, 
246 

sports  of,  91,  92 
Nature  and  civilisation,  56 
Navassha.  Lake,   19,  81 
Neumann's  camp,   16 
Newman  camera,   36 
Nigeria,  236 
Nile,  42,   257 
Nyeri,  46,  51,  54,  67 


Okapi,   138,   177,   180 

Olgolositt,  Lake,   10 

Olive,  wild,  46 

Orchids,   175 

Oryx,   15,  20,  21,  27,  3«,  263 

vultures  dispersed  by,  32 
Ostrich,  wild,  65 


Pai,m,  51,  177 
Panga,  204,  208 

Falls,  204 
Papyrus  swamp,  61 
Parke,  Dr.,   177 
Parrot,  173 
Penekiluvu,  178 
Penemafupu,   178 
Penghe,   167,   176,   177,   178,   179,  180, 

181,  185 
Peyari,  203 
Phrynia,  175,  214 


282 


INDEX 


Photographic  material,  care  of,  205 
Photography,  developing  troubles,  205 
moving,      107,     108  ;      forest     diffi- 
culties and,   151 
Pig,  wild,  27,  32 
Pigeon,  41.   173 
Pismires,   174 
Plantain,   177 

Poison,  lions  killed  by,  66,  67 
Port  Florence,  81 
Portuguese  West  Africa,  245 
Pygmies,  xvii,  127,   136,  138,   150,  257 

R 

Rabbit,  rock,   16 
Rainfall,  vagaries  of,  21 
Reedbuck,  9,   162 
Reid,  Mr.,   180,   181 
Remy,  M.,   197,   198,   199 
Rewenzori,  96,  100,  103,  104,  117,  257 
Rhinoceros,  15,  16,  21,  25,  26,  65,  70, 
71,  105.  263 

black,  threatened  with  extinction,  71 
Riddick,  Captain,  95 
Rifle-fire,   animals  and,  24 
Rinderpest,    55 
Rock,  glacial,   51 
Roosevelt,  Colonel,  61 
Rubber,    140,   187 

growing,  212 
Rumuruti,  9,   13,   14 


Sahara,  South,  rhinoceros  of,  71 
Samburra,  20,  21 

country,  lions  in,  273 
Sandpipers,   104 
Schindler,  Fritz,   58,  65,  68,  69 

and  man-eating  leopard,  268  ;   death 
of,  65 
Scorpions,   173 
Scrivener,  Mr.,  230 
Secretary  bird,  41 
Selous,   105 

Semliki,  River,  100,  103,  104,  117,  257 
Settlers,  Government  and,  73 


Shrike,  41,   173 
Sizel  plantations,   56 
Slave-raiders,    169,   212 

trade,  railway  built  to  stop,  82 
Sleeping  sickness,  81,  84,  209,  213,  213, 

230,  231,  232,  246 
Small-pox,   134,  209 
Snake  bird,  99 
Soda  Lake  of  Magadi,   58 
Somalis,   13 
Sorcery,   i 36 

Spiders,  camp  infested  by,  26 
Stanley,    H.  M.,    100,    137,    171,    l?^' 

174,   177,   189,  204,  210,  2J4,  216, 

223,  224,  230,  235,  247,  251,  252, 

254,  255,  256,  257,  258 
Falls,  257  ;    Station,  256 
Pool,  232,  234 
"  Stanley's  Island,"   204 
Stanleyville,   170,    198,    211,    218,   321, 

233 
"  Starvation  Camp,"   214 
Steinbuck,  9,   1 1 

Stronge,  Mr.,  80.   179,   191,    197,    19** 
Sugar-cane,   133 
Suicide,  racial,   155 
Sunbird,    173 
Swamp,  Kumiti,  59,  61 

Lorian,   19 
Swift,   173 


"  Taboo,"  53 

Tana  River,  65,  263 

Teak,    177 

Teal,   10,  99 

Temperature,  discomfort  of,  2-i 

vagaries  of,  50,  52 
Thika  River,  65,  173 
Thomi,  9 

Thomson's  gazelle,   263 
Thorn  trees,   51 
Thysville,   235,   248 
Tick  bird,   263 

camp  infested  by,  26 

elephant,   160 


INDEX 


283 


Tippu-Tib,   169,  256,  21:7 
Tobacco,   133 
Toro,  95,  96,   10 1 

Travellers  in  Africa,   liints  for,   271-5 
Tsetse  fly,  231 
Twin  Peaks,    1 5 
Valley  of,   262 

U 

Uashu   Neru,  The,  2,  15,   16,   19,  45 
Uganda,   82,  83,  125,  128,  209,  254,  257 

natives  of,    125 

Railway,    1 3 
Umali,   178 

V 

Victoria  Nyanza,  Lake,  72,  257,  258 

Villegas,  M.  de,  204 

Vines,   175 

Viper,  horned,   174 

Volcanic  formations,  80 

Volcano  craters,  extinct,  80 

Volobo,   230 

Vulture,  31,  32,  47,  68,  93 

age  of,  93 

habits  of,  31 

jackal  beats  off,  47 

lion  "kill"   attracts,  47 

oryx  disperses,  33 


W 

Wakamha,   3,   55,  76 

Wak'Sf,    127,    148,    150,   157 

Walker,  Mr.,  94 

W'anilmti,   22 

Wandorobo,   22,  48 

Wart-hog,  27 

Wasp,  26,   174 

Watcrbuck,  9,   27 

Water-holes,   animal,   26,   27 

Whip-poor-Will,    173 

"  White  King  of  the  Kikuyus,**  59 

White,  vStewart  Edward,  80 

\\ildebeeste,  65 

Witchcraft,    136 


Yam,   133 

Vambuya,   212,   213,   256,  257 


Zanzii!AR,   226,   251,   255,   257,  258 

Stanley's  troubles  with  Arabs  of,  256 
Zanzibari,    177 
Zebra,  9,   10,   15,  21,  25,  27,  32,  263 

Burchall's,   1 5 

Grevy,  15,  21,  25,  27,  32;    drinking 
habits  of  the,   32 

non-domestication  of,  265 


(1) 


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